Newly-crowned world 100m champion Fred Kerley is a rare physical specimen able to compete in different sprint events.

But his rise to the top has been anything but easy, having overcome a disjointed start to life to be able to finally thrive on what one special person provided.

The normally taciturn, modest athlete almost cracked with emotion when devoting his 100m victory in Eugene on Saturday to his Aunt Virginia.

It was she who raised Kerley and his four brothers and sisters after their father wound up in jail and their mother “took wrong turns in life”.

Kerley was two when he moved in with his then San Antonio-based Aunt Virginia, now 66.

He took her surname and eventually had her nickname ‘Meme’ tattooed on his arm “so she’d always be with me”.

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