Freshly minted Australian sprinter Eddie Nketia has laid down a marker ahead of the world relay championships with the country’s fastest ever 100m time in all conditions.
The 24-year-old, born in New Zealand where his dad Gus was a leading sprinter and raised in Canberra, switched allegiances to the green and gold late last year.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Eddie Nketia runs Australia’s fastest ever 100m in all conditions
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Nketia is now on the brink of an international debut after being named in Australia’s 4x100m squad for next month’s world relay championships and warming up for the event with a stunning — albeit illegal — time at a US college meet.
He ran 9.84 (+2.8m/s) to finish second.
“Thank you god,” Nketia wrote.
“Job’s not done.”
Nketia went on to anchor the University of Southern California’s 4x100m relay team to a bronze medal.
But it was the solo run — faster than Patrick Johnson’s all-conditions best of 9.88 — that caught the eye.
“Scary times in Aus sprinting,” athletics commentator Mitch Dyer wrote.
Johnson still holds the official record with his famous 9.93 yet to be toppled by the current crop headlined by Lachlan Kennedy (9.96), Gout Gout (10.00) or Rohan Browning (10.01).
Nketia’s personal best is 10.08 from 2022 while he previously went sub-10 with a 9.96 (+2.4m/s) last year.
Kennedy and Gout dominated headlines across the domestic season in recent weeks.
Kennedy won the national 100m title when he became the first Australian to legally break the 10-second barrier on home soil.
Gout achieved a similar feat in the 200m, claiming the title as the first Aussie to officially break the 20-second barrier.
Gout’s 19.67 blitzed Jamaican legend Usain Bolt’s under-20 time of 19.93 set in 2004 and claimed the world record in the age group.
Only American sprinter Erriyon Knighton has gone faster at the same age, but his 19.49 run in 2022 was not ratified because he failed to meet anti-doping testing requirements.
Gout hit the track again this week at the Australian junior championships and won without finding a sub-10 time in the 100m.
He will skip the world relay championships but Kennedy and Nketia have been named to the 4x100m squad alongside Browning, Connor Bond, Jacob Despark, Jai Gordon, Chris Ius and Calab Law.
Nketia paused his athletics career to have a crack at American football before recommitting to the track with USC and Australia.
“My goal with Australia is to break both the 100m and 200m record and also help the relay team to not just make the finals, (but) also to earn a medal on the big stage, and with the team I believe it’s possible,” he said last year.
“Not just LA, the Commonwealth Games, world championships and the world relays, any chance we get.”
Nketia’s younger brother Augustine Jr represented Australia at last year’s world relay championships.
