Josh Azzopardi leads field with Gout Gout, Kennedy and Sultana in chase for 10-second 100m
A frustrating headwind has denied Gout Gout a chance to make more history, as Josh Azzopardi headlines a field closing in on the 10-second barrier in the 100m at the Sydney Track Classic.
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A frustrating headwind has denied Gout Gout a chance to make more history.
The teenage sprint sensation had his eye on becoming the second Australian to run under 10 seconds for the 100m at the Queensland state championships but the weather gods weren’t on his side.
Gout looked sensational in his heat, jogging over the final stages and pointing to the stands as ran 10.39sec which had the crowd excited about what may have been ahead 90 minutes later in the U/20 final.
But unfortunately the fickle Brisbane weather wasn’t playing ball with a headwind of -1.4 mps greeting Gout in the final which made it impossible to produce a career best performance.
Instead the 17-year-old easily took the title in 10.38sec. He will be hoping for better conditions on Sunday when he competes in the U/20 200m.
It was on the same track back in December when Gout announced himself to the world with two stunning performances.
At the Australian All-Schools Championships he ran an illegal wind-assisted 10.04sec in the heats before clocking a personal best (and legal wind reading) 10.17sec in the final.
A day later he recorded a personal best of 20.04 seconds over 200 metres, breaking Peter Norman’s 56-year-old national record which had stood since the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
Gout has some company in the race to be the next Australian to go sub-10sec, joining Patrick Johnson who ran 9.93sec in Japan in 2003.
Leading the way this season is fellow Queenslander 21-year-old Lachlan Kennedy who recorded an eye-catching 10.03 seconds at the Perth Track Classic earlier this month.
Tokyo Olympic 100m semi-finalist Rohan Browning, reigning national champion Sebastian Sultana, Joshua Azzopardi and Jacob Despard all have faster times over the distance than Gout.
But Gout, who is still at high school, is predicted to go past them all this season.
He won’t clash with them at next month’s Australian championships, preferring to do the U/20 100m with his main focus being the senior 200m title. He will also concentrate on the 200m at the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne on March 29.
The Stawell Gift on Easter Monday looms as the first time Australia’s fastest men will get a chance to go head-to-head with Gout.
AZZOPARDI EYES MAGICAL BARRIER
Josh Azzopardi can’t guarantee he will break the 10-second barrier on Saturday night at the Sydney Track Classic - but he knows it is coming as a cracking field of Australian sprinters push each other to new heights.
Teenage sensation Gout Gout is one of the hottest properties in Australian sport right now. Lachie Kennedy recently broke the national and Oceania records in the 60m and ran 10.03s in Perth.
Azzopardi ran in Perth as well, flying home in a new personal best of 10.09s. Australia’s sprinters are enjoying a purple patch and Azzopardi insists they it is only a matter of time before one or all enter sprinting’s most rarefied air.
“We always talk about it because there is definitely massive belief among the group that we can beat those times now,” Azzopardi said.
READ MORE: Gout, Browning, Azzopardi and Kennedy in race to break historic 10-second 100m mark
“So I think it’s only a matter of time before one of us (breaks 10s). It’s definitely something that me and my coach have spoken about.
“At the start of the season - post-Olympics - we were kind of saying that the next step that we want to take is to run under 10 seconds.
“We’ve got Lachie chasing it as well, we’ve got Seb (Sultana) chasing it, we’ve got Gout chasing it. I can definitely see one of us doing it this year and I’m going to try make myself be the first one to do it.
“So we’ll see how that goes.”
Azzopardi and Sebastian Sultana will headline the field in the men’s 100m at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre on Saturday night, Azzopardi’s final event before heading to China to compete in the 60m at the world indoor championships.
Less than 24 hours later all eyes will turn to Brisbane where teen star Gout will headline the Queensland track championships and the 100m final on Sunday afternoon.
These lead up races are all building towards the national titles in Perth next month, where they will all try to push each other into the sub 10s territory.
A veteran of the Paris Olympics, where he competed in the 10m and the 4 x 100m relay, Azzopardi’s story could have taken a different turn six years ago when he was approached by Rugby Australia’s sevens program.
They came armed with footage of American sevens player Carlin Isles, a former track star who made the transition and became a try-scoring machine.
Azzopardi thought about it and then thought about competing in the 100m at the Olympics.
“I just came out of world juniors in 2018 and there was just something about making the Olympics for the 100m that really caught my eye,” Azzopardi said.
“So I turned that down back in 2019. I hadn’t really solidified myself as a top athlete, but as a junior I was doing pretty well under not much training.
“So I was just wondering where I could take it if I fully committed to my training, to my diet. It just took off from there.”
Azzopardi got his Olympics wish in Paris and now he and his relay teammates have loftier goals. Breaking records and winning medals is on their agenda.
“We’re all mates and stuff and hang out at relay camps together, but then when it comes to an individual standpoint, you’re obviously out there to beat each other,” Azzopardi said.
“So you’ve got to find the balance of being mates and then being competitors at the same time. But once we’re on a relay kind of camp and team, then we’re all chasing that one goal to break 38s or break the national record.
“I think the boys have figured out how to juggle that. It’s been good at the moment.”
There’s also that 10-second barrier.
“So it comes down to conditions as well and how lucky you are with the weather,” Azzopardi said.
“Obviously having a tailwind would be ideal, a nice hot day and then you throw in the fact that you might be able to do it at a major (event) because you’re more hyped up and more motivated.
“Half of the time it’s just about getting your body right and your body not carrying any niggles, which is really rare in a sport like this.
“The speed that we’re traveling, .10s is a metre, right? So you have to try to find a metre within a race. That’s probably one of the toughest things in the sport - once you start running very quick.
Originally published as Josh Azzopardi leads field with Gout Gout, Kennedy and Sultana in chase for 10-second 100m
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