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In a historic and dramatic evening of athletics at the national championships at Sydney Olympic Park, Lachie Kennedy became the first Australian 100m sprinter to break the 10-second barrier on home soil.
The celebratory mood flipped in an instant, however, after Jess Hull’s fall in the final straight of the 1500m. The incident triggered two protests and prompted her father and coach Simon to shout angrily within earshot of the press that his daughter was “robbed”, and the result remains in limbo ahead of an appeal to be heard on Saturday.
In the 100m heats, 22-year-old Kennedy stormed out of the blocks and surged through the finish line on Friday night, stopping the clock at 9.96sec with only a modest – and legal – tailwind of +0.2.
It lowered the personal best he set last year in Nairobi by two hundredths of a second, and was the first time a local has run under 10 seconds for 100 metres in an event in Australia.
“Honestly, I didn’t really even expect it. I was just super relaxed, super – not cruisey, I was definitely pushing it – but it just felt easy,” Kennedy said. “So I think I’ve got a bit more in the tank.”
The fastest anyone has run in Australia is Maurice Greene’s 9.87sec, set in 2000 during the Sydney 2000 final at the Olympic Stadium, barely more than a stone’s throw from the Athletic Centre where Kennedy made history on Friday.
The Queenslander feels he could go under 9.9sec as soon as this year.
“This is still only my second hundred [race of the season], so I’ve got so much more to give, but we’re off to a cracking start.”
Having now gone under 10 seconds twice, Kennedy said he wants to make a habit of it.
“Doing it once is good, but doing it twice – I want to make a bit of a pattern of it, I want to make it routine, I want to make it the standard.”
Kennedy will race 100m semi-finals and likely the final on Saturday night, before he takes on the 200m on Sunday against Gout Gout.
Rohan Browning, the defending 100m national champion who beat Kennedy in Perth last year, also won his heat.
The national record is 9.93sec, set by Patrick Johnson in Japan in 2003. Johnson and Kennedy are the only Australians to have run 100m under 10 seconds in legal wind conditions. Browning and Gout have also run under the mark, but with excessive tailwinds.
Kennedy said he was honoured to be the first Australian to record a legal sub-10sec run in Australia.
“I sure we’ll have way more in the future, [but I am] definitely honoured to be the first. No one can ever take that away from you.”
In the 1500m finals, Cam Myers came close to a new national record when he ran 3:29.85, less than half a second off the 2023 mark set by Olli Hoare who finished a valiant second.
The women’s 1500m final was the most dramatic of the night, following an incident with barely 50m to go at the end of a surprisingly slow, tactical race.
Claudia Hollingsworth – the woman considered Hull’s major rival – sought to switch from the inside of race leader Hull to the outside, but appeared to clip the Paris silver medallist, who tumbled over.
Abbey Caldwell was also caught up in the carnage, and Sarah Billings slipped past to cross the line second behind Hollingsworth. The winner was later disqualified for jostling, but that decision is subject to an appeal to be heard on Saturday.
Hull was deflated after finishing at the back of the pack and was comforted by her mother, as her father and coach voiced his displeasure in the stands.
The runner said she could have pushed the pace earlier to minimise the risk of a fall, but the incident itself was out of her hands.
“I went to close the rail because I thought I was away,” Hull said. “Whoever was coming from behind just gave me a tap and when you’re going that fast, the slightest bump you hit the track.” She said she believed what happened was not legal, “but, it happens”.
Hull, Hollingsworth, Caldwell and Billings plan to race again in the 800m that has heats on Saturday and the final on Sunday, while Hull also plans to contest the 5000m.
