The fastest man in the world is coming to Melbourne to race, with world 100m champion Fred Kerley set to take on Australian sprint star Rohan Browning.
Kerley, the silver medallist from the Tokyo Olympics, will headline the inaugural Maurie Plant Meet in February where $200,000 in prizemoney is up for grabs.
The US sprint star will take on Browning in a 200m clash, one of the most exciting sprint battles in Australia since Asafa Powell ran in the 2013 Stawell Gift.
“I am excited to start my season in Australia and I will also use this as a training base for the upcoming season. I have competed in all the other continents, and I am excited to get the opportunity to compete in Australia,” Kerley said.
“Also, it is nice to open my season with the 200m because I got injured in the 200m semi-finals at the world championships. All in all, I am excited to come and show my talent to the Australian people.”
The trip will be Kerley’s first to Australia for the event, which has been boosted by the prizemoney lift and now sits just one tier below the elite Diamond League.
Browning, who will also run his pet 100m event, said taking down Kerley was not out of the question.
“Can an Australian produce an upset? I’d like to think so,” he said.
“If I was a Melbourne-based sports fan, I wouldn’t be missing this. Hopefully, the big match-ups will draw big crowds,” Browning said.
Browning won’t be the only local taking on Kerley, with Australian 200m champion Aidan Murphy, who is only 19, set to take part.
“It gives us more exposure to the rest of the world and he is the best in the world at the moment, so it’s going to be fun,” Law said.
“We get to measure our speed against him and I will be doing everything I can to beat him. It‘s just such a great opportunity for athletes at my stage of development to get to run against the best sprinter in the world.”
