Australian sprint sensation Lachlan Kennedy has cracked the 10-second barrier for the second time in 24 hours, delivering another scintillating performance to claim his maiden national athletics title.
Kennedy on Saturday night recorded another blistering time of 9.96sec — the same time he produced in the heats on Friday night to become the first Australian to break the 10-second barrier on home soil — in the men’s 100m final at the Australian Athletics championships.
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The Queenslander pipped NSW duo Joshua Azzopardi (10.16) and Rohan Browning (10.19), who finished second and third respectively.
Kennedy earlier on Saturday night clocked 10.05 in the semi-final.
“It is spectacular,” Channel 7 broadcaster Bruce McAvaney said after Kennedy crossed the line.
“He’s a star. Lightning did strike twice.”
Former Aussie sprinter Matt Shirvington said the nation had “seen another evolution” in Kennedy’s racing, while Olympian Tamysn Manou added: “We’re talking about the best runners in Australia, but look at the gap he takes out of them across that 100m. He is just a wonderful technician over the 100m race, but I love how super confident he is.”
Speaking post-race, Kennedy declared “that is just the standard now”.
Kennedy BREAKS sub-10 mark | 00:42
“Hopefully next time we go a bit quicker than that and see where it takes us,” he said.
“I needed the win, I needed to be national champ, I needed to say that I had it so it is a bit of relief to finally do it.”
Only Patrick Johnson (9,93sec) has run a faster time by an Australian — and Kennedy is confident he can eventually pip that time.
“I still feel I haven’t put together the perfect race yet so I think I have definitely got more in the tank,” he said.
“I was gassed after the semi (he ran 10.05) but the fact I was able to come out after that and run that time just shows I still have some things to work on and that the sky is the limit.”
In the women’s 100m, 21-year-old Georgia Harris ran 11.50sec to claim her first national title.
‘You Just Cant Be Doing That!’ | 00:41
Meanwhile, emerging star Peyton Craig was left ruing a late-race mistake that appeared to cost him an 800m semi-final spot.
Craig was narrowly trailing Bob Abdelrahim in the second 800m heat before the pair reached out to fist bump each other just metres before the line.
But as the pair looked to make contact, fast-finishing Degras Amekata surged ahead of Craig to pinch second from Craig by four-hundreths of a second.
It meant Craig didn’t progress to the next stage, with Abdelrahim and Amekata getting into the final.
McAvaney was left stunned in the commentary box.
“Now he (Craig) has got to be careful here, because Amekata is coming hard. Peyton you’ve got to have a look! Oh boy, oh boy, there you go,” a perplexed McAvaney said.
“It’s a really novice mistake.
“You can’t just do this when it’s the first two and it’s a slow race.”
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