- Queensland young gun snared silver in 60m men’s final
- Britain’s Jeremiah Azu won by 0.01 seconds in China
- Kennedy, 21, had never raced on an indoor track previously
Young Australian flyer Lachlan Kennedy has roared to an historic silver medal in the 60 metre final at the world indoor championships in China – but was pipped agonisingly for gold despite a blistering finish.
The Queenslander, 21, making a spectacular indoor debut, proved fastest over the final 10m but just couldn’t reel in Britain’s European champion Jeremiah Azu.
He who won a photo finish by just one-hundredth of a second on Friday’s opening day in Nanjing.
There was initial confusion over who won the race with Kennedy’s name flashing up first, before Azu was eventually confirmed as the champion.
Kennedy’s 6.50sec was an Australian indoor record, and demonstrated again that, following Gout Gout’s recent spectacular exploits, the nation now boasts more than one brilliant young men’s sprinter.
‘I’ve very pleased even though I didn’t get the win,’ he said post race.
‘My goal was to go 6.40, but I didn’t quite get that, but 6.50 is the next closest thing.
‘I’ll take it at the end of the day.’
Young Australian flyer Lachlan Kennedy (pictured, right) has roared to an historic silver medal in the 60 metre final at the world indoor championships
The Queenslander, 21, was pipped agonisingly for gold despite a blistering finish in China
Remarkably, Kennedy had never previously raced indoors before the meet in China
Kennedy is the first Australian to medal in the blue riband sprint in the 38-year history of the short-track showpiece, surpassing Matt Shirvington’s fifth-place in Lisbon in 2001.
But for one moment, it looked as if the Brisbane man had emulated 200m champion Melinda Gainsford-Taylor in 1995 – the last Aussie indoor sprint gold medallist – as it was a photo finish for gold.
South Africa’s Akani Simbine was a clear bronze winner in 6.54 sec.
‘I knew in the semi-final, I didn’t run my best so, coming to the final, my coach (Andrew Iselin) and I worked on some things and I just felt super confident, super calm, relaxed and I just executed,’ Kennedy added.
Remarkably Kennedy, who put athletics on notice by becoming the 10th fastest ever at 60m with his 6.43sec run in an outdoor meet in Canberra in January, had never raced on the indoor boards before.
But he looked at home from the moment he won his heat in 6.52sec, then ended up second in 6.54 in his semi behind American Ronnie Baker, who ended up an injured sixth in the final.
It represented a terrific breakthrough for Kennedy, a one-time rugby union speedster who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a 15-year-old.
He races with a bandage covering the CGM (continuous glucose monitor) which tracks his blood sugar levels.
