His personal best time of 9.76 seconds makes him the sixth fastest man in history over the straightaway sprint, behind Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin and joint with Christian Coleman and Trayvon Bromell.

[4] He did not qualify out of his heat, but he went on to represent the United States at the NACAC Under-23 Championships where he anchored the 4 × 100 meters relay team to gold.

In May, Kerley ran 44.09 s, just 0.09 s off the NCAA record, while easing to the finish line at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championships in Columbia, South Carolina.

[18] A month later, Kerley won the US title in a new personal best of 43.64 seconds, making him the 7th fastest man on the all-time rankings at the time.

[19] At the World Championships in Doha, Kerley won the bronze medal in the 400 m with a time of 44.17 s.[20] He also helped the US to win gold in the men's 4x400 m relay.

[22] On May 19, he won the men's 100 m in 9.96 s at the Golden Spike in Ostrava, finishing ahead of former Olympic and World champion Justin Gatlin who settled for second in 10.08 s.[23] Kerley also ran in the 200 m where he placed second with a time of 20.27 s, trailing Kenny Bednarek from the start who won in 19.93 s. According to Reuters, Kerley was satisfied with his performances, but thought there was more work to do in his 200 m and his focus for the Olympic Trials would be 400 m.[24] However, despite finishing third over 400 m at the Doha Diamond League and winning at the FBK Games,[25][26] he decided to focus on the 100 m and 200 m at the Trials due to his ankle swelling on the turns.

[citation needed] Despite online backlash for his decision, Kerley silenced doubters by finishing third in the 100 m at the Trials, qualifying for his first Olympic team.

However, he managed to finish an impressive fourth with his first sub-20 s performance; this made him the 3rd athlete to join the "Sub 10s, 20s, 44s club for the 100m, 200m & 400m sprints", behind 400m World Record holder Wayde van Niekerk & Michael Norman.

[33] At the Diamond League Final in Zurich, Kerley won the 100 m in a time of 9.87 s and placed third over 200 m in 19.83 s.[34] He ended his season in September by winning over 200 m at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, running a time of 19.79 s.[35] In April, Kerley won over 200 m at the USATF Golden Games in 19.80 s, narrowly beating Michael Norman who ran 19.83 s.[36] On 13 May, Kerley competed in his first Diamond League of the season in Doha, placing second in the 200 m.[37] He also placed second over 100 m at the Prefontaine Classic, running 9.98 s to finish behind Trayvon Bromell.

[52] In a tweet on May 14, Kerley announced that the next time he raced the 100 meter distance, he planned to break Usain Bolt's world record of 9.58 seconds.

On June 9, Kerley was scheduled to compete in the 100 meters at the New York City Grand Prix, but forfeited the race due to apparent faulty starting blocks.

[56] At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Kerley was the bronze medalist in the 100 meters, finishing in a time of 9.81 seconds behind Kishane Thompson and Noah Lyles.

[58] At the Diamond League Final in Brussels, Kerley placed third over 100 m and fifth over 200 m.[59][60] In September, it was announced that he had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track.