Reigning Olympic 100m bronze medallist Fred Kerley played a vital role in helping Mondo Duplantis win the 100m race against Karsten Warholm in Zurich on Wednesday night.
Duplantis was in a class of his own, crossing the finish line in a personal best time of 10.37 seconds ahead of Warholm who clocked 10.47 seconds. After he won the race, the former world champion was among the first people to celebrate that achievement.
Kerley gave credit to himself with a series of tweets as he had taught the pole vault world record holder how to get a great start off the blocks.
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“Coach Kerley in the building,” Kerley shared on X before adding: “Mondo is Him.”
Still soaking in his glory, the American sprinter wrote: “First dub as a coach.”
In an interview before the race, Duplantis told Citius Mag that at the Diamond League Meeting in Lausanne, he requested Kerley to help him with the blocks.
Aside from the blocks, Kerley not only taught Duplantis how to have a great start off the blocks but also taught him the techniques and mental preparation.
“I just saw Fred in the lobby of the hotel in Lausanne and was like, ‘When are you doing blocks?’ And he was like 2 O’clock, and I said ‘bet’. So I pulled up on him at 2 O’clock, and then we did blocks together, and that was so necessary because I have been doing them by myself. You really cannot replicate the feeling of having somebody on your side, and that was a lot of speed on my side, which was something I needed, and it felt right,” Duplantis shared.
“We watched a video together, and he was giving me some pointers and stuff like he gave me a few mental pointers and drills and whatnot as far as reaction time in those first few steps and also block positions because I was kind of wavering a little,” he added.
