Best known for his performance at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, Fred Kerley has spent the last two days raising concerns about the disciplinary process used by the AIU. This comes on the back of him being banned for 2 years for anti-doping whereabouts failures. The decision did not sit well with Kerley, who took to social media to vent his frustrations. And in the midst of that, fellow American sprinter Vernon Norwood came in to poke fun at his rival.

Vernon Norwood didn’t directly take a shot at Kerley. Instead, he jumped in an ongoing war of words between Kerley and another X account holder, Kads ( @kadeen__). Here’s what happened.

In her latest tweet, Kads wrote, “Fred if ya talk, talk. It’s been 3 days of threatening to out people.” This was a straight shot at the flurry of tweets that Kerley has sent out on X since being banned.

Kads’ tweet apparently went down well with Vernon Norwood, who reposted it and reacted by posting four laughing emojis, evidently finding it humorous. 

However, this is just one part of the ongoing debate between Kads and Kerley that has been on for long.

Kads’ tiff with Kerley perhaps began when she retweeted a post on March 7, by an X user who criticized athletes for only exposing doping after they’re caught or suspended.

“The issue with athletes suddenly exposing doping is that many of them knew what was happening while they were winning. But once they’re facing suspension, that’s when they decide to start talking,” read the X post.

Kads reposted it and took a shot at Kerley saying, “Not a peep when he was the World Champion.”

Kerley immediately replied, “Don’t let me start again today with names.”

To that, Kads shot back, “You’re gonna start regardless my guy. You don’t need a prompt.”

Things eventually escalated and it led to her reply, which Norwood has now reacted to. But this isn’t the first time fans are seeing Kerley and Norwood’s banter.

A six-time medalist at the World Championships, Kerley has spent the last two days tweeting out his frustrations. From hitting out at the Disciplinary Tribunal to threatening to reveal the names of sprinters who he claims are doping, Kerley has been busy on X.

On March 6, 2026, the Athletics Integrity Unit hit the American sprinter with a two-year whereabouts ban, ruling he was “negligent and, to a certain extent, reckless” after missing three doping tests between May 11 and December 6, 2024.

The AIU said three whereabouts failures in twelve months count as a violation, and Kerley had already been provisionally suspended in August 2025. Now, the issue is yet to be solved. But in the meantime, with Vernoon Norwood hopping into the discussion, this has taken a fresh turn in their longtime rivalry.

Vernon Norwood and Fred Kerley have a rivalry going back years

This isn’t the first time Fred Kerley and Vernon Norwood have locked horns. While fans have called it friendly “banter”, the two have sparred over X in the past.

It started in 2024, when Ashley Spencer, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympics, asked if Kerley would ever be back in the 400m. That came after Kerley had switched to shorter sprinters after calling the 400m his “main event”.

The switch worked for him as Kerley won two Olympic medals in 2020 and 2024. But before Kerley could respond, Vernon Norwood did.

In a cheeky tweet, Norwood reposted Spencer’s and added, “When I started running faster you notice he stepped down to 100m. That’s all you needed to know.”

That did not go down well with Fred Kerley, who quickly responded with, “I drop 43 on your head.”

That refers to Kerley’s 400m personal best, 43.64 seconds, while Norwood has never run a 400m under 44 seconds. However, that wasn’t enough for Kerley as he added on to his tweet by posting a screenshot of his head-to-head record with Norwood.

It showed that he had beaten his fellow American seven out of the eight times they faced each other in 400m races. The social media war continued a few months later, when Kerley sent out a tweet where he claimed to be the “greatest 400m” walk-on athlete in NCAA rankings. Norwood immediately pointed to Xavier Carter as the best walk-on.

Carter, for those who don’t know, challenged legendary sprinter Usain Bolt to a 200m sprint and won. However, his career never quite prospered, although he set records in the NCAA 100m and 400m.

And now, with his latest tweet, Norwood has kept the rivalry rolling on, and it seems far from over, with the back-and-forth still going on.