Gout Gout v Lachlan Kennedy: The race to become Australia’s next sub-10 second 100m runner

Teen sensation Gout Gout already has people gunning for his title as the hottest prospect in Australian sport - with a race on to become our next sub-10 second 100m runner.

Lachlan Kennedy is a Gout Gout fan but he’s planning on upstaging his friend in the race to become Australia’s second sub-10 second 100m runner.

While his emergence hasn’t been with the same headlines as Gout, the 21-year-old - who is also from Brisbane - says he’s ready to step out of the shadows and grab some limelight for himself.

Kennedy ran the opening leg in the 4x100m relay at the Paris Olympics where the team broke the national record but fell just agonisingly short of making the final.

But it’s what he’s done over the last month which has a bullet beside his name and having many in the athletics world believing he could be the next one to join Patrick Johnson as sub-10 Aussies.

Last month he dropped his personal best to 10.17sec despite bungling the start of the race and then claimed Matt Shirvington’s 60m Australian record when he clocked a sizzling 6.43sec.

Australian sprinter Lachlan Kennedy ahead of the Adelaide Invitational on Saturday night

While Gout’s recent 10.04sec (with illegal tail wind) put everyone on notice, Kennedy is gunning to do something special at the opening meet of the summer series, the Adelaide Invitational, on Saturday night.

“In Canberra when I ran the 10.17 I actually completely messed the start up,” Kennedy says. “I thought I heard a second gun 20m into the race and you can actually see me on the camera turn my head to left to look across to see if anyone had slowed down.

“No-one slowed down so I had to get back up and keep going. If I can put that 60 (time) in the record race and add the final 40 from Canberra then that is cooking right there.

“It (sub-10) is so there, it’s so close. That’s the goal.”

Gout Gout is the name on everyone’s lips. Picture: Getty

Like Gout, Kennedy found out he was a sprinter at school, St Joseph’s College - Gregory Terrace, where he was focused on playing rugby. At the end of Year 11 he was asked to run a relay for the school and turned out being the quickest runner for the day.

That planted the seed, he got himself a coach and then early on the following year at a local Shield meet he ran 10.51sec in his school shirt and shorts, wearing old spikes and running out of blocks for the first time.

“I felt I was always the fastest bloke on the footy field,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t have good technique or anything I kind of just ran around people and it felt easy in a way to do that.

“I was quick for a footy boy but then when I ran 10.51 I was like, ‘OK I can see myself doing this’.”

Kennedy (L) has built up a reputation as one of the best young prospects in the country.

He then joined Andrew Iselin’s training squad which included world junior 200m medallist Caleb Law and until recently Australia’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis.

The results came quick, culminating with the Paris selection as a relay reserve before an injury to Sebastian Sultana meant Kennedy got the call-up for his Olympic debut.

“I felt really bad for him (Sultana) but at the end of the day I was there to do a job,” Kennedy said. “I was very lucky, very fortunate but it was insane, the crowd was so loud.”

After Adelaide he has his sights set on the world indoor championships in China next month before no doubt crossing paths again with Gout.

“I have raced him a couple of times, the last time we raced he absolutely cooked me in the 200 and ran an Australian record at the time,” Kennedy said.

“I told him that was as much my record as his because I set him up (out the front). We we are pretty close, pretty chilled and he is a super cool kid.

“And he is absolutely he is as good as they say. A lot of people don’t know what he does, don’t know how hard he trains, for sure he is legit.

“People put so much pressure on him with every race but he is just a kid at the end of the day. He has got so much time, he is a smart kid, his coach is smart, he is truly great.”

Originally published as Gout Gout v Lachlan Kennedy: The race to become Australia’s next sub-10 second 100m runner