EVERY HERO NEEDS, if not a villain, then a rival. Someone to spur them on to greater heights. Messi has Ronaldo, Federer had Djokovic and Nadal, Tom Brady had Peyton Manning, LeBron chased Jordan’s ghost, Ali had Foreman and Frazier. And in athletics, even Usain Bolt had at various times, Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake. It’s very early days but it’s looking like Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy have each other. And the winner could be Australian athletics.
Kennedy drew first blood in the budding rivalry, holding on to defeat a fast-finishing Gout by four hundredths of a second in the 200m event at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne earlier this year.
Now, the 21-year-old Queenslander has one-upped up Gout again, clocking a blistering 9.98 seconds at the Kip Keino Classic in Kenya on the weekend to become the first Australian in 22 years to legally break the 10-second barrier in the Men’s 100m.
In doing so, Kennedy became the first Aussie to achieve the feat since Patrick Johnson’s 9.93 Australian record in 2003.
“I was there to win today and bring it home, and I am super stoked to get the win and the time,” Kennedy said. “It’s so good. I can finally say I run 9! I haven’t wanted to rush it or put the pressure on myself, I take every race as it comes and I knew it would come eventually.
“I didn’t think a 9 was realistic until a couple of years ago. When I was still playing rugby but starting to train and realising I had some speed, I made it the goal. I’m getting better with every race. It’s an advantage to have a long season at home. I’m not getting tired, so I’m looking forward to seeing what I can achieve later in the year as we get closer to the World Championships.”
Who is Lachlan Kennedy?
Put simply, Kennedy is the fastest man in Australia right now. Kennedy, 21, boasts the second fastest 100m time by an Australian ever behind Patrick Johnson (9.93). Matt Shirvington and Rohan Browning are next with 10.01, while Gout’s best is 10.04.
While Gout is the Australian 200m record holder with a time of 19.98, Kennedy beat him in the 200m final at the Maurie Plant Meet, with his own PB. Kennedy ran 20.26 – smashing his previous best time of 20.93 – to sneak home ahead of Gout, who clocked 20.30.
The fastest time Kennedy had clocked in a 200m prior to that meeet was 20.93; a run in 2023 aided by a tailwind of +1.7 metres per second. Not only did the Brisbane product smash his personal best in Melbourne, he did it with a tailwind of only +0.4.
Even more impressive, Kennedy’s PB came despite competing in the 100m earlier in the night. He won that race, too, battling a headwind of -1.1 metres per second as he stopped the clock at 10.17.
Previously, Kennedy was a member of the 4x100m relay team that set an Oceania record of 38.12 at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He also claimed the silver medal in the 60m event at the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships in China.
Kennedy excelled in Rugby as a junior, before switching to athletics. He’s also completed a degree in engineering and design at the University of Queenslan
What are Lachlan Kennedy’s strengths as a sprinter?
Kennedy is powerfully built, with a fast reaction time that allows him to blast out of the blocks. And get this – Kennedy quarter-squats – that is, goes a quarter of the way down into a squat then surges upwards hard as he can – 300kg. This has helped him set some blistering times at the 60m distance, although the fact that he was able to hold off Gout, a renowned fast finisher over 200m, shows he does have the stamina to succeed at the longer distance as well.
Does Lachlan Kennedy have diabetes?
Yes, Kennedy was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2018, a condition that impacts his training and performance. “In 2018 I was medically diagnosed with type one diabetes, basically just making everything I do much harder, whether that was eating, doing sport, sleeping, anything I always had to monitor my condition,” Kennedy says. “And I still do. I have just gotten a lot better at it and I now have better control over levels and stuff than ever.”
When will Lachlan Kennedy race next?
Kennedy will next run at the prestigious Ostrava Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic on June 24 where he’ll take on Gout in the 200m, before travelling to the USA for the 100m at the Prefontaine Classic on July 5.
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