{"id":569958,"date":"2026-03-28T12:45:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/569958\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T12:45:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:45:23","slug":"lachlan-kennedy-beats-gout-gout-sets-a-blistering-time-to-win-the-100-metres-and-then-wins-the-200","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/569958\/","title":{"rendered":"Lachlan Kennedy beats Gout Gout, sets a blistering time to win the 100 metres and then wins the 200"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Updated March 28, 2026 \u2014 9:30pm,first published 7:46pm<\/p>\n

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Once was an upset. Twice is a pattern.<\/p>\n

For a second year in a row, Lachlan Kennedy has upstaged Gout Gout \u2013 beating the teenage superstar in the 200 metres at the biggest athletics meet in Australia.<\/p>\n

First the rain fell on the track, and then Kennedy rained on Gout\u2019s parade \u2013 beating him over 200m in drifting rain at the Maurie Plant Meet. Kennedy ran 20.38s to beat Gout in 20.43s.<\/p>\n

\"LachlanLachlan Kennedy just held off a fast-finishing Gout Gout in the 200 metres in the rain at the Maurie Plant Meet.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gout praised Kennedy but the national record holder \u2013 who last year, wedged between school terms, went to the world championships and made the semi-finals \u2013 issued a warning for the national titles in a fortnight: \u201cProps to him, I\u2019ll be back for nationals for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Kennedy, the focus on Gout with crowds turning out in extraordinary numbers – 10,000 in a sellout at Albert Park\u2019s Lakeside track \u2013 fuelled him, where it might have cowed others. Maybe he was slighted that he was not the focus of expectation, given he had beaten Gout this time last year, which was the last time they met. But if he cared, he didn\u2019t show it. He just liked the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack-to-back \u2013 it doesn\u2019t it doesn\u2019t get much better than that,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not listening to the noise much, I just go out there and try to beat whoever is in front of me, and then they are all racing the clock. I love the attention \u2013 it\u2019s good. I love winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere is unreal \u2013 it is like an extra man. It is an x-factor. Look at the people here \u2013 it is great to get this many people out to a track meet in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sky is the limit [for me this year]. To come out here first 100 of the year, [and the] second 200 of the year, [the] second competition, and I am already hitting [those times].<\/p>\n

\u201cI am chasing Comm Games gold \u2013 I think that\u2019s possible for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gout slipped. Just a little, but in a sport decided by fractions of seconds, the small slip at the start on a wet track was critical.<\/p>\n

\"KennedyKennedy stormed away to claim the 100 metres at the Maurie Plant Meet.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Kennedy lifts something ridiculous in the gym, akin to a small bear, in weird leg weights, and it tells with his explosive starts. He had the race effectively won in the first 40 metres with his good start and Gout\u2019s slippery one. Gout closed on him down the straight after slingshotting off the bend, as is his style, but he had given up too much ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know he [Gout] is going to come, it\u2019s about not panicking. He will make up ground, but it\u2019s knowing in your head he is going to come and not freak out and stay relaxed,\u201d Kennedy explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had been dry all night and the second we get on the track, it starts pouring. It made it as cinematic as. I got the happy ending.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gout was phlegmatic about the loss \u2013 generous in his praise but quietly warning there would be a swift response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come out here to run my race, Lachie got away with the win today, props to him. I\u2019ll be back for nationals for sure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The weather] always going to be a factor, but at the end of the day you have to go out there and run your race.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday he got the W. Next time I will better. He is a Queensland guy [like Gout] \u2013 one of my good friends, congratulations to him, but I will be back for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair had not raced head-to-head over 200 metres since last year\u2019s upset win by Kennedy. The only other occasion when they were due to race, at the national titles last year, Kennedy false started and was disqualified.<\/p>\n

Gout Gout mania has overshadowed almost everything in Australian Athletics for 18 months, but amid it all Kennedy has continually stepped from the shadows to say \u2018Look at me. It\u2019s not all about Gout\u2019.<\/p>\n

And he did it again on Saturday night, claiming not only the 100 metres in blistering fashion, running one of the fastest times ever run by an Australian on home soil to clock 10.03 seconds \u2013 but beating Gout for the second time head to head.<\/p>\n

It was a showcase night of Australia\u2019s remarkable generation of baby athletes.<\/p>\n

Claudia Hollingsworth beat an Olympic silver medallist who also just won the world indoor title. Cam Myers ran the fastest time ever in Australia over 1500 metres when he ran three minutes, 30.42 seconds and won by about 50 metres. Kennedy ran a sub-10 last year and just beat Gout, comfortably the fastest Australian of any age over 200m.<\/p>\n

Hollingsworth is 20. Myers 19, Kennedy just turned 22 and Gout only blew out 18 candles in December after leaving school.<\/p>\n

A week ago, Briton Georgia Hunter-Bell, the 800 Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo, won gold in the 1500m at the world indoors. She had not been beaten in her past five races. She has now.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s young Olympic semi-finalist Hollingsworth, from bayside Melbourne, held out the middle distance star to win in 4:01.30, a solid 0.22s ahead of Hunter-Bell.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Gout<\/a><\/p>\n

Myers, the Australian wunderkind of men\u2019s middle-distance running, decided with 500 metres to go he would put the foot down. He rapidly opened up a breathtaking gap and never tired. Adam Spencer, who is no plodder, having won a national title and run the fifth-quickest ever time by an Australian, was 50 metres adrift. Myers ran 3.37.51.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been doing too much speed work, but I had the crowd behind me and I felt good, so I went,\u201d Myers said after his race, and his decision to kick 500m out from the line and open up an intimidating break on the field.<\/p>\n

It was a race named after John Landy. Myers is running times now that generations ago the great Landy could only dream of. One day, Myers\u2019 name will be on races too.<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"MichaelMichael Gleeson<\/a> is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated March 28, 2026 \u2014 9:30pm,first published 7:46pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-569958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}