The stage had been set. With $1 million, history, and Bolt’s record on the line, Fred Kerley was ready to race. For weeks and months, the American claimed that Bolt’s 9.58 would be “destroyed” by him. Yet, when push came to shove, nothing broke, and all Bolt had to say was one word.

The track and field icon, who retired in 2017, has kept quiet for most of the time since Kerley and the Enhanced Games revealed their target to break his record. However, before the race, Bolt took to X (formerly Twitter) and responded.

“Ok,” Bolt wrote on his official account.

Then Fred Kerley stepped to the line. The 31-year-old stood alongside Emmanuel Matadi, Marvin Bracy-Williams, Mouhamadou Fall, Reece Prescod, and Michael Bryan. When the race finally started, Kerley surged ahead from the gun.

Matadi kept pace with him, but the American streamed forward just before the halfway mark. He kept that pace for the remainder of the race, finishing just ahead of Matadi with 9.97. Nowhere close to Usain Bolt’s 9.58 record set in Berlin in 2009, and in fact, that was well below Kerley’s personal best.

The sprinter raced to 9.76 in June 2022 at Eugene Field and clocked 9.81 seconds as he finished third at the 2024 Paris Olympics. His 9.97 would have ranked last among the field, behind even Seville’s 9.91. And Bolt took that well, responding after the American sprinter failed to break his record with another tweet that said, “National Treasure #OK.”

The tweet also came with a picture of Bolt sleeping on a private jet, looking as calm as ever. Kerley, however, took the call-out well, responding less than two hours later with, “What bolt say #ok 😂😂😂😂”.

It marked an end to what had been a months-long debate over whether Bolt’s long-standing 100m record would actually fall. Some believed that it would be, given that the Enhanced Games allows and encourages athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Thus, all but a handful of athletes across the two-day event were on various ‘protocols’ and ‘regimens’ to help them perform.

Yet Kerley competed clean, not enhanced. The 31-year-old is currently serving a two-year ban for whereabouts failures until August 2027 and hopes to compete at the 2028 Olympics. Him competing cleanly at the event was despite rumors initially showing that he would have been enhanced.

“I don’t need it,” Kerley told reporters. “God gave me fast feet for a reason. I’m here to showcase my talent. You still have to work. Drugs aren’t going to give you an advantage if you’re not putting the work in.”

And by the end of the race, Kerley only walked away with $250,000 in prize money. The 31-year-old missed out on the $1 million mega bonus for breaking world records, with only one athlete earning it. That was despite a catalogue of others trying to break world records; the Enhanced Games ended with just Kristian Gkolomeev breaking a record.

However, 12 athletes set 14 personal bests, although all of them were swimmers and weightlifters. Olympic silver medalist Ben Proud was one of them, even though he was disappointed to miss out on the world record. The same went for Kerley, who walked away $1 million short and nowhere close to a personal best.

The question now wasn’t whether the record fell; it was why it didn’t, and Kerley had an answer.

Fred Kerley reflects on why he didn’t break Usain Bolt’s record

A 2022 World Champion, an Olympic bronze medalist, and a personal best of 9.76 in the 100m, Fred Kerley had big dreams at the Enhanced Games. His target wasn’t just a personal best, but breaking Usain Bolt’s world record time of 9.58 seconds. A time that no sprinter has even come close to since Bolt set it in 2009. 

Nobody has broken 9.70, let alone 9.60, since 2012. In fact, only two sprinters have clocked 9.75 or below since 2012: Kishane Thompson (9.75 in 2025) and Justin Gatlin (9.74 in 2015). Yet, the Enhanced Games offered a different platform. With PEDs in play alongside other ‘enhancements, Fred Kerley certainly had a chance.

That’s even if the 31-year-old was competing clean alongside ‘enhanced’ athletes. Then he stepped up to the line and was forced to watch as poor organisation hurt him. That’s because it took a long time before the race even officially started. It restarted thrice: once for a sprinter to retie his shoe and twice when the false-start signal went off early. By the time it kicked off, Kerley finished in 9.97 seconds. 

It wasn’t even close to a time that would have earned him a podium at the 2024 Olympics. It had the 31-year-old hitting out at the organisation, pushing the blame elsewhere.

“A lot of false starts, a lot of jumping, a lot of people who didn’t want to run their heats,” Kerley said, as per Sky Sports. “Got to do better than that. I’m ready to run fast.”

It wasn’t what the American wanted to see, although he walked away $250,000 richer. Yet, with just over one year left on his two-year ban, Kerley looked keen on making his mark at the Enhanced Games. Instead, he was left with more money than he has ever earned, a 9.97, and a year on the sidelines to think about what comes next.

For Bolt? It seems his record remains safe for now, although time will tell if that continues.