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.
It was Kennedy who 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 on the weekend.
Over 10,000 people showed up to watch Gout, the 17-year-old sprint sensation, who in junior competitions has eclipsed times set by Bolt at the same age. On Saturday night, Gout received a rock star’s welcome to the track, but it was Kennedy, who recently won the silver medal in the 60m at the world athletics indoor championships, who set the pace.
Gout had his work cut for him heading down the straight and was closing the gap as the two hit the line. But Kennedy’s last-ditch lunge saw him hold on to claim the Peter Norman Memorial in 20.26 seconds, with Gout second in 20.30, and 21-year-old Calab Law taking out third in 20.78.
“I’m absolutely gassed, [as] you can see,” Kennedy told Channel Seven post-race. “I don’t run many 200s. This is a bit of a different distance for me. But I’m just happy to be here. Australian sprinting is awesome right now. The depth is crazy. We’ve got good runners everywhere you look. I mean, [that’s] spearheaded by Gout. He’s a legend, he’ll do many great things along the way. It’s an absolute privilege to be a part of this group. What a race. My goal was to go out hard and I was just trying to hold him off and I got lucky this time.”
Gout was magnanimous in defeat, but admitted the result was motivating.
“Like people say, winning feels great, coming second feels bad and third feels even worse, so coming second just puts fuel to my fire and it ignites that burn,” Gout said. “The silence was crazy out there. The silence was loud as people say. You could hear a pin drop and then suddenly everyone was screaming my name at the top of their lungs. This is something not a lot of people can say they experience. I’m just taking it step by step and enjoying the moment.”
While Kennedy has landed the first blow in the pair’s rivalry, you can expect Gout to come back hard over the coming weeks as the pair clash again at the Stawell Gift and, hopefully, at the world athletics championships in September. And who knows, perhaps this could become a rivalry that defines a generation.
Who is Lachlan Kennedy?
Put simply, Kennedy is the fastest man in Australia right now. Kennedy, 21, has a 100m PB of 10.03 from the Perth Classic earlier this month, narrowly giving him the advantage over Gout, who ran 10.04 at the Queensland Championships, this month also.
Kennedy’s 100m PB is the equal-third fastest of an Australian ever behind Patrick Johnson (9.93) and Matt Shirvington and Rohan Browning (10.01).
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 Saturday night 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 Queensland.
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 Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy race next?
While both will compete at the Australian Athletics Championships in Perth from April 10-13, at this stage Gout will only compete in the under 20 division, while Kennedy will compete in the open race.
That means the next time the two meet will be a few days later, on April 19-21, when they could face off in the Stawell Gift. If both make the final, it could well be the race of the year – topping the one we just witnessed this weekend.
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Gout Gout has the athletics world at his feet
Usain Bolt on world records, mindset and an unparalleled legacy
