Sprint star Fred Kerley a boost to Enhanced Games, but he can't race by himself

The news that American sprint star Fred Kerley had signed up to compete in the Enhanced Games was less an announcement than a multi-front news rollout that rippled through both social and traditional media.

For analog-minded people, the Enhanced Games — a proposed new multi-sport event with an "anything-goes" policy on PEDs — issued an old-school news release, paired with an in-depth interview published on Sports Illustrated's website. And for people with more modern news consumption habits, here came collaborative posts on Instagram, with slideshows and IG stories generating valuable engagement.

It's a publicity campaign befitting the occasion.

In the two years since the competition was first announced, the Enhanced Games has promised big money to athletes willing to compete in their event, where a PED use isn't just allowed but encouraged. Each event offers a $500,000 US in prize money, plus a $1 million bonus for surpassing a world record.

But big-name active athletes didn't follow.

Australian swimmer James Magnussen signed up first. He has three Olympic medals, but he's also 35, and last competed in 2018.

WATCH | Trackside's Perdita Felicien, Donovan Bailey and Kate Van Buskirk on Fred Kerley and the Enhanced Games:

A few more swimmers came on board, but no Olympic medallists until England's Ben Proud, who won two silvers last summer in Paris, agreed to compete. Securing his commitment showed the games could nibble at the fringes of the big time.

And then came Kerley.

The 29-year-old native of Taylor, Texas is an elite performer with recent-vintage accolades. He's won two Olympic medals in the 100 metres, including bronze in Paris last summer. In 2022 he won world championship gold in the 100, and earlier that