Fred Kerley drops 3-word reaction to Akani Simbine winning first individual global medal a decade after his debut

American track and field athlete Fred Kerley recently shared his reaction to Akani Simbine's impressive performance at the 2025 World Indoor Championships. Simbine ran the 60m short track event in the competition and finished third on the podium.

The South African sprinter clocked a run time of 6.54 seconds to achieve this feat while Great Britain's Jeremiah Azu and Australian sprinter Lachlan Kennedy finished ahead of him in 6.50 and 6.49 seconds respectively.

Following this impressive performance, which also happened to be his first indovidual medal in a World event since his debut on the pro circuit in 2013, Simbine shared a heartfelt post on his Instagram handle. He shared a picture of himself celebrating and shared a motivating message stating:

"story of resilience, perseverance & an attitude of never giving up! Don’t ever stop believing in YOURSELF"

Kerley shared this post on his Instagram handle and congratulated Simbine on his heroics in the competition. He wrote:

"Big dog congrats"

Screenshot of Kerley's Instagram story feat Akani Simbine (Image via: Kerley's Instagram)

Fred Kerley hasn't competed in the 2025 track season so far. However, Kerley has one World Indoor medal in his career besides his five World Outdoor medals. The Texas native achieved this feat back in 2018 as part of the 4x400m relay team in Birmingham.

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Fred Kerley on building wealth by being a track athlete

Kerley after winning the 100m race during the 2021 Diamond League meet in Brussels (Image via: Getty Images)

Fred Kerley shared his thoughts on building wealth across his track and field career. In a conversation during the Ready Set Go podcast in October 2024, Kerley said that to gather assets, one should start making plans from the initial stage, not the end.

He also added that the planning should be done ever since an athlete receives his first pay cheque. He said (via Ready Set Go, 53:40 onwards):

"The biggest thing I will say people work on their end plan when they end, but you are supposed to work on your end plan while you in the main plan, so a lot of people don't work on their end plan. You already got to know what's next. When you started your career, when you get that first piece of cheque, you got to work on your end plan now, not later when you at the end of your career."

During the conversation, Fred Kerley also said that some athletes live in rented apartments but just wear fancy clothes and stuff.