Rising Australian sprint star Lachlan Kennedy has stamped himself as the real deal, finishing an impressive fifth in the 100m final at his Diamond League debut in Xiamen, China.
Kennedy arrived in career-best form, fresh off silver in the 60m at last month’s World Indoor Championships in Nanjing and a blistering 10.00-second run at the Australian Nationals in Perth — moving him to second on Australia’s all-time 100m list.
On Saturday night in Xiamen, the 21-year-old stood tall against a world-class field, clocking 10.18 to grab fifth. South African Akani Simbine was the runaway winner in 9.99, followed by Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala (10.13), Britain’s Jeremiah Azu, U.S. star Christian Coleman, and then Kennedy. Incredibly, just 0.07 seconds separated six athletes behind Simbine.
Kennedy also claimed a notable scalp, beating world 200m champion Letsile Tebogo — a huge confidence boost heading deeper into 2025.
It wasn’t just Kennedy flying the Aussie flag:
- Rose Davies smashed her own Australian 5000m record, running 14:40.83 for ninth place in a stacked field won by Beatrice Chebet of Kenya (14:27.12).
-
Liam Adcock leapt 8.15m in the men’s long jump, narrowly missing victory as Zhang Mingkun snatched it with an 8.18m jump late.
-
Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers both cleared 1.94m to finish second and third in the women’s high jump behind Ukrainian superstar Yaroslava Mahuchikh (1.97m).
-
Abbey Caldwell broke the Oceania 1000m record, clocking 2:32.94 to finish second behind Kenyan legend Faith Kipyegon.
-
Norwegian sensation Karsten Warholm broke his own unofficial 300m hurdles world record, stopping the clock at 33.05.
-
American Anavia Battle shocked the field to win the women’s 200m in 22.41, with Jamaican superstar Shericka Jackson (22.79) well behind after battling injury setbacks.
