Athletics-Fast Eddie Nketia adds fuel to Australia's sprinting ambitions

A week after Australians absorbed Gout Gout's impressive 200 metres run at ​national championships, excitement surged again as the unheralded Eddie Nketia ‌clocked ​a wind-assisted 9.84 seconds in the 100m at a U.S. college meet over the weekend. New Zealand-born Nketia only switched allegiance back to Australia in December but the 24-year-old now has the nation's fastest ever 100m, albeit with an illegal tail-wind.

The University ‌of Southern California runner's time at the Mt SAC Relays eclipsed the 9.88 clocked by Patrick Johnson in 2003, which was also ruled out of the records due to a strong tail-wind in Perth. While Nketia will need the right conditions to stand in the record books, his performance has added to a sense that Australian sprinting is on the brink ‌of a golden era.

At the national championships, 18-year-old Gout set an under-20 200m world record with a blistering 19.67, while Lachlan Kennedy clocked a pair of 9.96s ‌in the 100m. In Kenya last year, Kennedy ran a personal best of 9.98 in the 100m to become only the second Australian to go under 10 seconds.

Johnson, the first, still holds the national record of 9.93 but his mark has never appeared more vulnerable. "What an incredible run by Nketia," Johnson told Reuters.

"Everyone will start to know who he is now. "Leading up to the 2023 Brisbane Olympics and also next year's ⁠world championships, ​I think we're in a great space."

Gout, the ⁠son of South Sudanese immigrants, is already a household name in Australia with a long-term sponsorship deal with Adidas. Nketia, however, has had a much lower profile despite claiming Australia's national 100m title in 2019 as ⁠a 17-year-old.

Although he grew up in Canberra, Nketia ran for New Zealand at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon and eclipsed his father Gus Nketia's 28-year-old national 100m record (10.11). COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Despite his ​quality, Nketia fell out with New Zealand's athletics federation after missing out on selection for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. In late-2022, ⁠he made a surprise decision to pursue a career in American football with a scholarship offer from the University of Hawaii before ultimately switching back to the athletics track.

While Nketia did not take part in the ⁠national ​championships in Sydney last week, a primary selection event for the July 23-August 2 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Australian Athletics' high performance boss Andrew Faichney said his college commitments may take priority over competing for his country in the short-term. "Whilst the Commonwealth Games are a very, very important competition for us, it's not as understood by ⁠U.S. colleges," Faichney told Reuters.

"So we'll still work with Eddie and his coach and the college as to what his availability looks like. "We're certainly hoping for the 2027 ⁠world championships and 2028 Olympics that he ⁠will be a strong member of the Australian team."

With a growing stable of quality sprinters, Australia is even daring to dream of becoming a power in world relays and grabbing medals at major events. "I think that there's certainly a change in expectation," said ‌Faichney.

"It's changing even what ‌our Australian athletes believe is possible, and they're showing that on the track."