Kennedy’s sub-10-second stunner

No wonder the crowd went “nuts” as Australian sprinter Lachlan Kennedy, 21, broke the magical 10-second barrier over 100 metres in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday night. In clocking 9.98 seconds, Kennedy beat South Africa’s Olympic medallist, Bayanda Walaza (10.03sec), and Kenya’s hometown favourite, Ferdinand Omanyala (10.07sec). The performance put him in the frame for a medal at this year’s world championships in Tokyo in September, Will Swanton writes.

The only other Australian to break the 10-second barrier was Patrick Johnson in 2003. Schoolboy sprint sensation Gout Gout, 17, twice ran 9.9sec at the Australian championships last month but both runs were ruled invalid in terms of the record books because of wind assistance. Kennedy and Gout, both from Brisbane, are no less competitive in the 200m, in which they will both run in the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic later this month. Not since the “golden girls” half a century ago has Australia had more than one athlete dominating track competition so decisively at the same time.

Kennedy’s sporting career began playing rugby for St Joseph’s College (Gregory Terrace). In year 11 he was asked to run a relay and proved the fastest runner for the day. “I didn’t think a 9 was realistic until a couple of years ago,” he said after Saturday’s win. “When I was still playing rugby but starting to train and realising I had some speed, I made it the goal.”