US sprinter Kerley slams the gauntlet at high flying homeboy Omanyala

Fred Kerley remains a threat for opponents in any race he enters and this weekend is no different as he faces the Olympics gold medalist Italy's Marcell Jacobs at the highly-anticipated Kip Keino Classic at Kasarani.

He carries an aura of calmness whenever he goes, almost a ‘don’t care’ attitude but the friendliest of fellas in the mixed zone. As he sat in front of a battery of journalists on Friday in the pre-event press conference, his opponents Ferdinand Omanyala and Jacobs by his side, Kerley did not need to say much to beat the war drums.

As Omanyala, who is targeting another personal best, which would also be an African record if his dream of running a 9.6 came true, challenged the world-beaters to dare him on home turf, Kerley’s response was short and simple.

“I have come here for one thing,” said the man of few words. “Every race I have been to this year has been competitive but at the end of the day, we are here to compete.”

For years, the reigning Olympic 100 champion would often face watered-down regular season fields but Jacob has broken the trend and will face the Olympics silver medalist. This is the first of three meetings in just 34 days ahead of the World Championships.

Jacobs comes to Nairobi on the back of a great indoors outing that saw him run a European record of 6.41 to win the World Indoor 60m dash title. Kerley has already run 9.99, 19.80, and 44.47 this outdoor season. Omanyala has a season-best time of 9.98 run in South Africa.

“It feels good to run on home soil. I set my PB in the same event last year and I am looking to do better on Saturday. It all comes down to how I execute the race. If I get a good start off the blocks, no one is catching me,” Omanyala said adding that he will focus on the finish line as opposed to whoever is on the starting line.

The Olympics champion, on his first visit to Kenya, says he has tried the track and is eager to compete. “I am up against two great champions and they gave me the impetus to come and race in Kenya, starting my season early as I work towards Oregon,” said Jacobs.