Australian athletics flying high after indoor world champs record haul
Australia’s fastest man this year Lachlan Kennedy has emerged from Gout Gout’s shadow to claim an important piece of history, with a silver medal at the world indoor championships in China.
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Australia has collected seven-medal haul at the world indoor championships after a stunning final day of competition in Nanjing, China.
It meant Australia finished only second overall to the USA in number of medals won after a stellar meet that once again demonstrates our resurgence as a major player in the world of athletics.
Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson started the final day with gold and silver in the women’s high-jump.
Olyslagers, the two-time Olympic silver medallist, won the gold on a countback from her teammate with both clearing 1.97m but Patterson had an earlier slip-up at 1.92m.
But they were not the only highlights as Liam Adcock from NSW soared to 8.28m in the men’s long jump to take bronze and his first medal for Australia in the green and gold.
He was only 2cm from gold and 1cm from silver in a high class contest that went down to the wire.
“I opened conservative with the new format where athletes get knocked off every few jumps but I was able to put out a decent series and had a lot of fun doing it,” Adcock said.
Not to be outdone he Women’s 4x400m relay team comprising of Olympians Ellie Beer (QLD), Ella Connolly (NSW) and Australian team debutants Bella Pasquali (VIC)and Jemma Pollard (NSW) made history, finsishing behind the USA and Poland in 3:32.65 to claim brozne.
Their success comes after two bronze medals in the men’s and women’s 3000m on day two of the championships. Sprinter Lachlan Kennedy had snared the silver medal in the 60m on the opening day of competition.
Paris Olympic hero Jessica Hull was back on the podium in the women’s 3000m but it was in the men’s event where Queensland’s Ky Robinson delivered the biggest shock to win his first global medal.
In her first race for the season, Hull, the Olympic 1500m silver medallist, led for most of the race before hanging onto third (8min38.28sec) with gold going to Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu (8:37.21) and silver to America’s Shelby Houlihan (8:38.26).
“Watching Lachie [Kennedy] last night, it just started us on such a high and meant that none of us were chasing that today – we were on the board already. It allowed us to our jobs and it set the tone really well,” Hull said,
“After the last two (indoor) championships in Belgrade and Glasgow, I know it’s just a washing machine in those packs. I wanted to be in front with my own stride and to be free, because we didn’t come to China to run nine minutes.
“My goals are so high now that I can disappoint myself pretty easily. I just needed to focus on today and not get carried away with trying to be better than Paris [Olympics]. I was sixth in Belgrade and fourth in Glasgow, and I’m already thinking about Poland next year.”
Originally from Brisbane, Robinson only started taking the sport seriously when he was 16 before being awarded a scholarship at Stanford University in the USA as a steeplechaser.
But a horrible fall when hurdling in a steeplechase race which required 26 stitches in his face saw Robinson switch to the flat which he did in style, winning the NCAA 5000m and 10,000m double in 2023.
In Nanjing, it was a gutsy move to go to the front midway through the race which rewarded Robinson.
While Norwegian great Jakob Ingebrigtsen took control in the final lap and drew away with Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi, the 23-year-old Aussie then battled with Great Britain’s Sam Gilman, dipping on the line to collect the bronze in 7:47.09sec.
““It’s a lot of instinct, I remember thinking that I don’t want to live with any regrets and if I saw a move on this stage, I didn’t want to miss that opportunity. I wanted to give the gold a crack and some world-class athletes managed to kick me down which hurts,” Robinson said.
“Maybe four weeks ago I thought this is where I thought I was at, but the last few weeks of training have been really tough and I lost a bit of confidence,’’ Robinson said.
“I came out here and knew I had to mix it with the big boys, and that’s what I did.
“This is something I hoped to achieve at some point in my career and it has come a bit early, so I’m not going to complain, but now the pressure is on to keep the standard up and keep going.”
Pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall (5.80m) finished fifth behind world record holder Mondo Duplantis (6.15m) while Australia’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis was run out in the 60m semi-finals (7.23sec),
Kennedy emerges from Gout Gout’s shadow to make history
Australia’s fastest man this year Lachlan Kennedy has claimed an important piece of history, storming to a silver medal at the world indoor championships in China.
The 21-year-old Queenslander, who has lived in the shadow of Gout Gout’s recent rise to prominence, is the first Australian to medal in the 60m event.
Kennedy broke the Australian 60m record in January and proved he has what it takes on the world stage by clocking 6.50sec to miss the gold medal by just one-hundredth of a second to Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu.
It was the first time Kennedy had competed indoors and from lane two he looked to have clinched gold - even the commentators went for the Aussie - but unfortunately missed by the narrowest of margins.
“I know I can do so much more, this is only the beginning. I’m a bit upset I didn’t win, but I definitely got the next best thing,” Kennedy said.
“Racing three events, with eight hours in between them was weird for me, but in the heat I stumbled and almost fell over after crossing the finish line.
“When I got to the semis, I was hesitant and tensed up a bit and then I thought, if I fall over in the final, I fall over and I just went for it.”
Kennedy is part of a sprinting revolutionary in Australia and clocked a career-best 10.03sec in Perth earlier this month.
He will now turn his attention to running the 100m at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne next Saturday with going under the magical 10 second barrier firmly at the front of his mind.
“This season has been my favourite so far,” Kennedy said. “There’s so much more to do and more to come. I definitely want to go sub-10 in the 100m, that’s my goal for this season.
“And then I want to break the Australian record (of 9,93sec). It’s well within reach for me to do it at the Maurie Plant Meet or Nationals.”
Kennedy and Gout, who ran a wind-assisted 10.04sec in December, won’t clash until the Stawell Gift on Easter Monday.
Gout, 17, will focus on the 200m at the Maurie Plant Meet and the national championships in Perth next month. He won’t run in the senior 100m there, preferring to chase the U/20 100m record.
In other results at the indoor championships, Kennedy’s Paris Olympic relay teammate Josh Azzopardi narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 60m semi-finals.
Victorian Georgia Griffith (4min09.78sec) booked a spot in the 1500m final with an aggressive heat run while Commonwealth champion Ollie Hoare (3min42.29sec) was unlucky not to progress to the final, missing a qualifying spot by just 0.08sec.
Copper Sherman’s Australian team debut ended with a promising fifth in the 400m semi-finals (47.67sec) while Sarah Billings and Abbey Caldwell both failed to progress out of the heats of the 800m.
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