KENNEDY INCHES CLOSER TO SUB-10 AT ACTION-PACKED PERTH TRACK CLASSIC

Olympic sprinter Lachlan Kennedy and long jumper Liam Adcock have skyrocketed up the Australian all-time lists with historic performances at the Perth Track Classic tonight, leading a fresh wave of Australian talent as the meet returned to the national calendar for the first time since 2020.

Continuing his rapid rise, the 21-year-old Kennedy (QLD, Andrew Iselin) scorched to a breakthrough over 100m to clock 10.03 (+1.1) in one of the hottest races ever on home soil, climbing to equal third on the Australian all-time list alongside Matt Shirvington.

Defeating Olympic teammate Joshua Azzopardi (NSW, Rob Marks) in 10.09 and reigningAustralian champion Sebastian Sultana (NSW, Greg Smith) in 10.11, Kennedy backed up his world-leading 6.43-second 60m performance and inched closer to the elusive 10-second barrier that no Australian has been able to achieve in legal conditions since Patrick Johnson in 2003.

“It felt so good to run that fast but I actually missed the start a bit. I didn’t get my normal burst, so to be able to nail the last 40m, which is something I really wanted to work on – it’s a big sigh of relief,” Kennedy said.

“I know I can go faster if I can nail that start, and if I can do that with the last 40m I just ran there, we’re cookin’.”

Olympic semi-finalist Bree Rizzo (QLD, Ryan Hoffman) joined in on the sprinting frenzy with a 11.09 (+3.0) showing down the straight, recording the fastest time by an Australian woman in all-conditions since 2000, and the fifth fastest time in all conditions in history.

Rizzo beat home Paris 2024 teammate Mia Gross (VIC, John Nicolosi) in 11.20, telling a roaring crowd the significance of her breakthrough.

“Coming in today, I was hunting down an 11.1 legal and I think I would have been pretty close if it was a nice legal wind, but I’m so stoked with that. I haven’t run that fast ever so I think the main thing to take away is that my legs can move that fast so now we just need to make it happen in legal conditions,” Rizzo said.

Despite experiencing nerve irritation in his left leg, Olympic long jumper Liam Adcock (QLD) brought out his very best to equal fifth on the Australian all-time list, leaping to 8.33m (+1.8) in a stunning series with three consecutive jumps over his previous career-best of 8.15m.

Flying to Perth with the final stages of a flu, coupled with his injury, Adcock returned to the runway with no expectations, but will leave the western state with qualifiers for the 2025 World Athletics Championships and World Athletics Indoor Championships.

“I didn’t think I had it in me tonight. I’ve had a pretty rough couple of weeks. After jumping in Auckland, I had this flu and I’m still sick, and I’ve had nerve irritation so I’ve had to jump through the pain. I’m going to feel it tomorrow, that’s for sure,” Adcock said. 

Javelin thrower Mia Gordon (QLD, Ben Thomson) served up a breakthrough of her own with a personal best of 59.17m, piling on almost five-metres to her former best to crack the top-10 Australian women in history at 22-years-old.

In the final race of the evening, it was Lakara Stallan (NSW, Andrew Murphy) who held on in the tightest of finishes in the Women’s 200m, clocking a wind-legal 22.97 (.964) to defeat 20-year-old Jessica Milat (VIC, Cathy Woodruff) in a career-best 22.97 (.966). Meanwhile, Rhiannon Clarke (WA, Danny Kevan) won the Women’s 200m Para in 26.32 (+4.0).

Adding to the para athletics results, Paralympic medallist Reece Langdon (VIC, Tim O’Shaughnessy) took down his younger T38 rival Angus Hincksman (SA, Philo Saunders & Simon Moran) in the Men’s 1500m B race – stopping the clock in 3:49.41 to 3:53.81.

A World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meet with a host of nations in action as part of the Chemist Warehouse Summer Series, international competitors left their mark in Perth with five winners.

Great Britain’s Charlie Myers took out the Men’s Pole Vault with a 5.55m clearance and Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage set a new meet record of 85.41m in the Men’s Javelin. 

For the women, Ireland’s Sophie O’Sullivan clocked 4:06.74 for a new meet record in the 1500m, Japan’s Sae Takemoto won the Javelin with a final-round throw of 59.49m, while her compatriot Misaki Morota won the Pole Vault with a 4.35m clearance.

The 2025 edition of the Perth Track Classic was supported by Chemist Warehouse and the Western Australian Government, through Sport and Recreation and Venues West.

Full results from the Perth Track Classic can be found HERE.

By Lachlan Moorhouse and Sascha Ryner, Australian Athletics
Posted 1/3/2025