Upcoming Australian sprinters race to set new sub-10 record in 100m

It has been 22 years since the first Australian broke the magical 10 second 100m barrier, yet next month there could be multiple young Aussies that achieve this incredible feat.

Australia has experienced an explosion of talent in its sprinting ranks and a handful of runners are now on the verge of making history.

Leading the charge is 21-year-old Queenslander Lachlan Kennedy, who moved to equal third on Australia’s all-time list with an impressive 10.03sec at the Perth Track Classic on Saturday night.

That performance in perfect conditions on a lightning-fast track has experts predicting something special when the Australian Championships are held on the same track from April 10-13.

Not only will they be watching Kennedy closely to see if he can drop below 10 seconds, they will also be watching schoolboy sensation Gout Gout when he competes in the U20 100m, as well as Olympic semi-finalist Rohan Browning. Then of course there is reigning* national champion Sebastian Sultana, and Joshua Azzopardi, who ran a personal best of 10.09sec on Saturday in the senior 100m event.

So far, Patrick Johnson has been the only Australian to run a time in less than 10 seconds, clocking* 9.93sec in Japan back in 2003.

“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” former Stawell Gift winner and Channel 7 commentator Jason Richardson said.

“It’s going to happen and it’s not just going to be one, it’s going to be multiple who do it.

“Perth is the perfect place to do it and you can definitely see a scenario* where Gout, Rohan (Browning), who I’m not ruling out, Lachie Kennedy and Seb Sultana all run sub-10.”

There are also a bunch of talented female sprinters emerging*, led by Australian record-holder Torrie Lewis, who is currently training overseas, and fellow Olympian Bree Rizzo, who ran a sizzling 11.09sec with an illegal wind* in Perth on the weekend.

Australian Athletics high performance manager Andrew Faichney said the sprinters were following in the footsteps of the middle-distance runners, who emerged together on the world stage over the past four years.

After having two finalists in both the men’s and women’s 1500m finals at the Tokyo Olympics, Ollie Hoare went from that performance to winning the Commonwealth title 12 months later, while Jessica Hull claimed the Olympic silver medal in Paris last year.

“I reckon it’s a breakdown of the impossibility,” Mr Faichney said.

“We had that with our middle-distance group, it came from Tokyo onwards and people see that it’s not beyond them for the Australians to be really successful.”

Mr Faichney said the sport’s investment in a relay program had paid off, with both the men’s and women’s 4x100m teams almost making the final in Paris.

He is predicting even better performance in three years’ time at the 2028 LA Olympic Games.

“I fully plan for us to be able to get a medal in LA in the relays, at least one,” Mr Faichney said. “We have got these individuals who have gone to world juniors and made finals and won medals.

“They’ve won medals in relays too, and they are the ones who are coming forward in the individual, so it is elevating* all the way through.”

Gout, who ran a wind-assisted* 10.04sec last year, will be the star of the show in Perth and is coming off a training stint with Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles in the US in January. Gout is scheduled to compete at the Queensland state championships next week.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• reigning: leading
• clocking: recording or scoring in time
• scenario: situation
• emerging: coming up
• illegal wind: when a strong wind reading at the time of racing is judged to have helped the performance of a runner
• elevating: helping the runners improve
• wind-assisted: scored a fast run when there was strong wind blowing in the direction he was running

EXTRA READING
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Aussie teen smashes sprint record
Usain Bolt’s final bolt

QUICK QUIZ
1. Which Australian sprinter ranks equal third on Australia’s all-time list?
2. Which Australian broke the 10 second 100m barrier?
3. In which year did he do it?
4. How many sprinters are experts hoping to see clock less than 10 seconds at the Australian championships?
5. Which two female sprinters are emerging as strong talent?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Why has it taken so long?
Why do you think it has taken so long for the 10 second barrier to be broken? Write down as many reasons as you can think of.

Time: allow at least 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

2. Extension
Do you know what the rules are to claim a world record in track events like the 100m sprint? Use clues in the story and maybe your research skills to find out. Use the information that you have found to write a paragraph explaining the rules and why you think that they are either fair or unfair.

Time: allow at least 45 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

VCOP ACTIVITY
Athlete profile
It’s time to shine a spotlight on our athletes. Create a template for a character profile that we can fill in with all the information you want to know about some of our athletes. Make sure the layout has subtitles, and perhaps questions under each subtitle, to help us fill it in.

Extension: Let’s test your layout. Can you use the character profile layout and fill it in with information about yourself? Check to see if you included enough categories. Will we learn a lot about you, or do you need to add more sections? Share your fact file with your class, so they can learn more about you.