While Fred Kerley was a USATF athlete, he was one of the best they had. He burst onto the Olympic scene at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021), claiming silver in the 100m with a time of 9.84s, his first Olympic medal. He followed that up in Paris 2024, taking bronze in a nail-biting finish just 0.01 seconds behind silver, clocking 9.81s.
At the World Championships, Kerley has shone brightly: in Eugene 2022, he won gold in the 100 meters (9.86s), leading an all-American podium, and in Budapest 2023, he helped the U.S. 4×100 meters relay team to another gold. But then his tough 2025 season sees another twist as he joins the Enhanced Games.
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What are the Enhanced Games, and how do they work?
“We’re reinventing sports with science. At Enhanced, we are pioneering a new era in athletic competition that embraces scientific advancements to push the boundaries of human performance,” reads the website of this event. Aron D’Souza, the company’s founder and president, framed the announcement as the opening salvo in an effort to create “superhumanity.” Simply said, the Enhanced Games aim to create a platform where athletes can compete using PEDs legally, challenging the norms of traditional sports. In any form of traditional sport, if you’re found guilty of doping, you would be banned, but not in these games.
In the Enhanced Games, athletes are allowed to use substances that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and prescribed by licensed medical professionals. Examples of such substances include testosterone, growth hormones, and certain anabolic steroids. However, illicit drugs like cocaine and heroin are explicitly prohibited. So Fred Kerley will be allowed to use PEDs. But why did he enter in the first place?
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Why did Fred Kerley decide to join the enhanced games?
Money has been a big problem in track and field, and that is where the Enhanced Games take the win. Any athlete who wins an event in these games will be awarded a generous sum of $250,000 in prize money. For comparison, if you win a gold medal in the ongoing 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships, you would be awarded $70,000. In addition, if Fred Kerley breaks any of the existing world records in these games, he will receive a $1 million check as a bonus. Breaking the world record at the World Athletics Championships gets you $100,000. So money is a big motivator. Besides, Kerley has been having a tough time this season.
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He kicked things off with a win at the USC Trojan Invitational, clocking 10.23 seconds—a solid effort, but only the 38th fastest time in the world at that point. In subsequent races, he ran 10.07 seconds in Rabat and 10.06 seconds in Rome, respectable marks, but still well off his personal best of 9.76 seconds set back in 2022. Things got tougher at the Kingston Slam, where he placed 7th in the 100 meters (10.30s) and 3rd in the 200 meters (20.39s). On top of that, in August, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) issued a provisional suspension for Kerley due to three missed doping tests within 12 months, a violation of anti-doping rules.