Lachlan Kennedy has scorched his name into Australian sprinting history, clocking 10.00 (+0.9) in the heats of the Men’s 100m to climb to number two on the all-time list, behind only Patrick Johnson, on a blistering second day of the 2025 Australian Athletics Championships in Perth.
Photos by Chiara Montesano courtesy of Australian Athletics
The 22-year-old Queenslander surged past Olympic semi-finalist Rohan Browning (10.07, +2.1) and 2023 champion Sebastian Sultana (10.12, +1.7) to stake his claim as the man to beat — while setting up a must-watch clash in Saturday’s semi-finals and final.
“I was staring at the clock with 30 metres to go and thought, I might actually get it,” Kennedy said post-race. “10.00 and 9.99 are sort of similar… but nine is better. I’m coming out to do it.”
Browning, now Australia’s third-fastest man of all time, embraced the rising heat of competition:
“It made me want to respond,” he said.
“That’s what you want for the sport. But it’s not just Lachlan — there’s Seb, Josh Azzopardi, a whole group coming through.”
# Time Name Year 1 9.93 Patrick Johnson 2003 2 10.00 Lachlan Kennedy 2025 3 10.01 Rohan Browning 2021 4 10.03 Matt Shirvington 1998 5 10.08 Joshua Ross 2007 6 10.09 Joshua Azzopardi 2025 7 10.10 Trae Williams 2018 8 10.11 Sebastian Sultana 2025 9 10.12 Jack Hale 2020 10 10.13 Damien Marsh 1995
In the Women’s 100m, it was Torrie Lewis and Bree Rizzo dead-even at 11.25 to top the qualifiers, with the Queensland pair setting up a showdown of their own in tomorrow’s final. They will be joined by new Australian U18 record holder, Leah O’Brien, who ran 11.31 seconds to win her heat.
West wins heptathlon
Tori West returned to the top of the Australian heptathlon podium, piecing together a world-class 6107-point performance, highlighted by a 6.03m long jump, 47.19m javelin, and 2:19.83 800m.
It was her third-best career total and sixth time over the 6000-point mark, with Emelia Surch (5975 PB) and Mia Scerri (5770 PB) completing an all-Queensland podium.
Feain-Ryan with steeplechase meet record
Closing out the day, Cara Feain-Ryan lit up the steeplechase final with a commanding 9:29.19 — a new championship record and a 20-second winning margin — reinforcing her status as Australia’s top barrier-runner.
In the men’s 800m heats, Peyton Craig (1:47.95) and Peter Bol were the class acts, cruising through to the next round alongside defending champion Luke Boyes. On the women’s side, Olympic semi-finalists Abbey Caldwell and Claudia Hollingsworth eased into the final with no signs of trouble.
And in the Under 20 ranks, 17-year-old Seth Kennedy broke through the 47-second barrier for the first time with a 400m win in 46.62, capping off a day that delivered both history and a preview of what’s still to come.
Photo Gallery
A huge collection of Australian Championships photos available courtesy of Fred Etter.
