'He is here': Athletics world blown away as Lachlan Kennedy records rare Aussie feat

Yahoo

2 days ago

Aussie sprinter Lachlan Kennedy has become just the second Aussie male to ever run sub-10 seconds in the 100m event having won the Kip Keino Classic in Kenya. Kennedy has been tittering around the 10 second mark across the 12 months with his personal best recorded at 10 seconds.
Although the Aussie made sure he became just the second man, after Patrick Johnson, to break the 10 second barrier having recoded a 9.98 to win his race at the Kip Keino Classic. Kennedy had to do it the hard way having come from behind in a stacked field that was made up of with an Olympic medalist.
Kennedy was able to break away and hold onto his narrow lead to crash over in first head Bayanda Wazala of South Africa and Kenya's African 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala. "Finally, finally, the Australina has gone under 10 seconds. He has been waiting to do that for so, so long," the commentator said as Kennedy embraced his fellow sprinters with a smile.
However, Kennedy wasn't truly stunned until the moment his legal time of 9.98 popped up on the board. "As soon as I saw the 9.98 I was thrilled, the feeling was so surreal. I couldn't believe it," Kennedy said after the race.
Johnson achieved his record of 9.93 back in 2003 and Kennedy has one-eye on eclipsing this feat soon. Rohan Browning has the third fastest time ever recorded by an Australian with 10.01, while Matt Shirvington's best was 10.03.
And while Kennedy isn't getting ahead of himself the 21-year-old is making waves in the athletics community ahead of the World Championships in Tokyo later this year. Kennedy has been selected to represent Australia at the World Championships in the 100m.
Kennedy has featured for Australia at the Olympics and Indoor Championships, but never at the World Championships. Only earlier this year And the Aussie will have sent a warning shot to rivals such as Olympic gold medallist Noah Lyles.
Aussie fans were absolutely delighted for Kennedy who is proving to be another global star for Australian athletics. The nation's program is currently entering its golden era with the likes of Gout Gout and Torrie Lewis making waves overseas across the last 12 months.
How about that ‼️🇦🇺's Lachlan Kennedy rules at the @KipKeinoClassic 🔥 9.98 PB to win the 100m and move up to 2nd on the Australian all-time list 👏 #ContinentalTourGold pic.twitter.com/0aP4dxKMls
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) May 31, 2025
This is so awesome to wake up to. Lachlan Kennedy runs 9.98 to become just the second Australian to run a legal sub-10 100m.We're really about to go through a golden era of Aussie men's sprinting. pic.twitter.com/YAWB17hQYQ
— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottlieb) May 31, 2025
🔥 WOW 🔥Lachlan Kennedy🇦🇺 becomes only the second Australian to run under 10 seconds for 100m, running 9.98 (-0.7)Wins the race against some classy opposition at the Kip Keino Classic🇰🇪 and goes sub-10 despite the headwind#sensational 📽️ World Athletics pic.twitter.com/iqjc3M4XQj
— athsSTATS (@athsstats) May 31, 2025
Lachlan inching closer to that Oceania Record1️⃣9.93 (+1.8) Patrick Johnson2️⃣9.98 (-0.7) Lachlan Kennedy3️⃣10.01 (+0.8) Rohan Browning4️⃣10.03 (-0.1) Matt Shirvington5️⃣10.08 (+1.9) Joshua Ross5️⃣10.08 (-0.3) Edward Osei-NketiaThey're all Australian🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/SsNpgCl3HJ
— Anderson Emerole (@EmeroleAnderson) May 31, 2025
Lachlan Kennedy joins the ranks of sub 1 men 🫡And what's more insane? It was into a headwind out in Nairobi. A gold level win, 2nd Aussie (wind legal) to break the mark, and into a headwind for 9.98Unreal scenes pic.twitter.com/zNkJUJTjms
— Mitch Dyer (@mitchdyerlive) May 31, 2025
Lachlan Kennedy just beat a 9.7 man on his own soil and an Olympic medallist in the same raceHE IS HERE.
— Timmytheinventor 🇦🇺 🇳🇬 (@Jubbitie) May 31, 2025
Kennedy has shot to international prominence in recent months alongside fellow Aussie young gun Gout. Earlier this year, Kennedy made his Diamond League debut in Xiamen.
On this occasions, he recored 10.18 - well down from his then PB of 10.00. This saw Kenya's Omanyala out run him with winner South African Akani Simbine the runaway winner in 9.99. But Kennedy has improved in the last two months and eclipsed his best time.
Already in 2025, he has claimed silver in the 60m at the world indoors in Nanjing. He ran a PB of 10.00-flat in the heats at the Australian championships earlier this month, but broke this in Kenya having broken the elusive 10 second barrier.