Fred Kerley and Shamier Little win in style at Rabat Diamond League

U.S. hurdler Shamier Little wins the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the Rabat Diamond League meeting. Photo by Matthew Quine for Diamond League AG

By Maddie Lang

Two U.S. athletes, sprinter Fred Kerley and hurdler Shamier Little, won events Sunday at the Rabat Diamond League meeting and scored eight quality points each toward qualification for the Prefontaine Classic in September. 

The athletes with the most points at the end of the Diamond League season will compete in the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field, which hosts the Diamond League Final on Sept. 16-17. 

Kerley, the reigning men’s 100-meter world champion, also won the men’s 200 meters at the season-opening Doha Diamond League meeting, meaning that he is in early position to qualify for two events at the Pre Classic.

In the Rabat 100m, Kerley wasn’t the first one out of the blocks, but by the 50-meter mark, he had established his first-place position. He held that through the finish line where he finished in 9.94 seconds. One other sprinter broke the 10-second barrier: South Africa’s Akani Simbine in 9.98.

Kerley’s biggest competition in the field was supposed to be Marcell Jacobs, who won gold in at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Kerley following just 0.04 behind. The two have engaged in some social media trash talk, and when Jacobs pulled out of this meet with what he said was an injury, it was the fifth time Jacobs has not lined up against Kerley when he was scheduled to. 

Jacobs and Kerley are still scheduled to face off in the next Diamond League event, Friday in Florence.

“I’m my own competitor, and I only can do what I’ve been doing and training in and getting the job done,” said Kerley.

Little won the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 53.95, just ahead of Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton, who finished in 54.15. She made up the stagger in the first half of the race and began establishing her lead in the final 100 meters. 

She crossed the finish line well ahead of the 2020 Olympic silver medalist Dalilah Muhammad, who was a surprising fifth in 55.72. 

“The time, eh, but the execution of the race I felt was pretty good,” said Little. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was as close to good as I expected.”

In the much anticipated men’s 1,500 meters, defending Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigsten of Norway controlled the race after the pacer stepped off and won in 3:32.59, scoring eight points for himself. 

“For me it’s important to have that drive, to have a competition to work towards,” said Ingebrigsten.

Close behind Ingebrigsten was American Yared Nuguse, who started in the middle of the pack but moved into third position on the third lap. Coming around the last curve of the final lap, he gave it one last push to pass Olli Hoare of Australia, his teammate with On Athletics Club, to finish second in 3:33.02, a personal best. Hoare finished third in 3:33.39.

In the men’s discus, Kristjan Ceh from Slovakia, the defending world championships gold medalist, became the first athlete to win two events in Diamond League meets so far this season. His fifth throw of 70.32m is the one that sealed the deal for him, but it wasn’t quite as far as he threw in the season opener at Doha, 70.89m. His margin of victory of Sweden’s Daniel Stahl, who was runner-up in both meets, shrunk from more than six meters to just over one meter.

Ceh now sits with 16 points in the men’s discus event, putting him as a front runner to be seen at Hayward in September.