Lachie Kennedy upstages Gout Gout to win 200m at Peter Norman Memorial
Gout Gout has a problem and his name is Lachie Kennedy.In another enthralling evening in Australian athletics, the superstar teenager was once again upstaged by his fellow Queenslander, at the Maurie Plant Meet on Saturday.Under pouring rain at Lakeside Stadium in front of close to 9,000 fans, Kennedy held off the fast-finishing Gout in the Peter Norman Memorial 200m.The result was a replay of last year in a race that is now the clear highlight of the Australian athletics season.“Today he got the win, but next time I’ll be better for sure,” Gout said after crossing the line second, five hundredths of a second behind the winner.
“It was very rocky,”Gout was talking about his start, but the Sylvester Stallone films might be equally apt,These early duels between the young sprinters are formative in a Hollywoodesque rivalry set to punctuate the buildup to Brisbane 2032,Like the Italian Stallion and Apollo Creed, the pair share similarities and differences,But nowhere are their differences more obvious than on the track.
Kennedy had already won the 100m ahead of the national champion Rohan Browning earlier in the evening and was a deserved winner over 200m, finishing in 20.38sec despite the inclement conditions.His blistering start left the field behind, even if there were moments in the closing metres that it looked like Gout’s top-end speed might just reel him in.“You know he’s going to come, so it’s all about just holding on, not panicking,” Kennedy said.“He will make up ground, but it’s all about just hanging on.
You’ve just got to not freak out, just stay relaxed.”On Saturday, Kennedy v Gout II was as compelling as the original, and the twist was there was no twist.“Back to back, it doesn’t get much better than that,” Kennedy said, still panting after his victory, marked by a heavy shower just as the competitors approached their blocks.“It’s been dry all night, and the second we got in the tunnel and started walking out, it started pouring, so I was like, ‘They’re making it cinematic as … ’,” he said.“It was a race at the end of the day, so I got the happy ending.
”Gout is 18 – four years Kennedy’s junior – and though he finished second he still easily accounted for the rest of the field including Ben Richardson, a semi-finalist in the 200m at the Paris Olympics,The teenager remained upbeat after the race, celebrating with Kennedy and posing for the cameras,“It is what it is,” he told the press,“It’s a bit wet, but there’s things you learn and things you’ve got to focus on,”Kennedy had earlier impressed in the 100m, scorching the rest of the field with a time of 10.
03sec despite blustery conditions and a half stumble.The Queenslander has overcome a serious back injury which prevented him from going to the world championships last year.But when he saw the clock as he crossed the line, he wagged his tongue to celebrate.“Conditions aren’t elite, but the fact I was able to go out there and execute, even with things going wrong, it’s just really good for the confidence bank,” he said.Gout-mania drove a sellout of around 10,000 fans last year, but incessant rain on Saturday morning – as well as an uncertain forecast for the evening – hurt walk-up ticket sales.
Still, the stands were close to capacity for the biggest event of the Australian athletics calendar,The start of the sporting year in Melbourne is marked by the Australian Open,By the time March rolls around, the grand prix takes over Albert Park, again attracting hundreds of thousands,In the background to it all is the start of the AFL season, which eats what is left of the city’s sporting attention and stays hungry for the next 30 weeks,Saturday’s near-full grandstand – situated metres inside the concrete barriers of the Formula One circuit – was a reminder of the value of Gout, perhaps the nation’s most identifiable sporting talent.
There were extraordinary performances on Saturday night, some far more significant in the careers of Australia’s other top athletes than Gout’s second place.Cam Myers ran the fastest 1500m recorded in Australia.Claudia Hollingsworth held off world indoor champion Georgia Hunter Bell in the women’s 1500m.The pole vaulter Nina Kennedy obliterated the field in her return to top-level competition.But Gout remains the No 1 attraction.
While he is yet to realise his extraordinary potential, the steps along the way make for compelling viewing – just ask the thousands standing in silence in the rain at Lakeside, waiting with eager eyes and phones aloft to see him run.And as his legend grows, so too does Kennedy’s.
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