Speedsters breaking new ground

Sprinters Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy are leading Aussie competitors in male athletics, a sport in which the nation rarely excels. Under the Stawell Gift’s handicap system Gout, 17, and Kennedy, 21, his arch-rival from Brisbane, fell short on Monday in their respective 120m semi-finals races.

Gout was beaten by John Evans, a 28-year-old teacher from South Australia who was contesting his sixth Stawell Gift. Evans also won the final. And the crowd that gathered at Central Park in Stawell, northwest of Melbourne, was about twice as large as usual.

Gout, who broke the magical 10-second barrier for 100m twice in three hours earlier in April in wind-assisted times, will be back. So will Kennedy, who recently beat Gout over 200m.

In Jeddah, Formula One driver Oscar Piastri, 24, broke new ground for Australia in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Piastri, who raced go-karts as a boy in Melbourne, also took the lead in the F1 world championship for the first time, claiming his third victory from the first five races of the 2025 season. He is the first driver since Mark Webber in 2010 to lead the title race. With 19 races still to go on the F1 circuit, Piastri is the outright favourite to win the title and join Jack Brabham and Alan Jones as the only Aussies to win motorsport’s biggest prize. As with Gout and Kennedy, Piastri’s success will ignite public interest in the sport.