{"id":76966,"date":"2025-06-08T21:54:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T13:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/runnerstribe.com\/?p=76966"},"modified":"2025-06-08T21:58:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T13:58:54","slug":"ten-centimetres-from-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runnerstribe.com\/features\/ten-centimetres-from-stardom\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten centimetres from stardom | A column by Len Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile on 6 May 1954 his friend and supporter Norris McWhirter stretched the announcement out almost beyond breaking point, proclaiming successively Bannister had run a meeting and track record and \u201csubject to ratification,\u201d an English native, British national, all-comers, European, British Empire and world record.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bannister breaking the four minute mile (AP) 1954<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe time was <\/span>three<\/i><\/b>,\u201d McWhirter intoned as he reached crescendo, at which point the rest (presumably \u201cminutes 59.4 seconds\u201d \u2013 we\u2019ll just have to take his word for it) was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Lachlan Kennedy ran 9.98 seconds for 100 metres in Nairobi last weekend (31 May), his joy at breaking a significant barrier may have been as great as Bannister\u2019s but he didn\u2019t have a mate on the trackside public address (as far as we know). Nor was his time a meeting or track record, a national record, an area record or a Kenyan all-comers record. The British Empire having joined the dead parrot in no-longer existing, nor was it either an Empire or Commonwealth record.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lachlan Kennedy has become the second Australian to run 100m inside 10 seconds (AFP Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kennedy himself summed it up succinctly. And in a manner resonant with McWhirter\u2019s announcement on that momentous mile occasion, it took just one number to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can finally say I ran nine,\u201d he summarised. Yes indeed, and just the second Australian to be able to say so. Patrick Johnson\u2019s national record 9.93 may be living on borrowed time. As this columnist observed recently, Bannister is defined by the number three, uniquely so because he was the first to break four minutes. Now Lachie Kennedy joins Johnson in being defined by the number nine. With Usain Bolt\u2019s world record 9.58 so far unchallenged, much less bettered, the Australian pair are likely to be nine-defined by this number for a while yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what does Kennedy\u2019s performance mean. Many things but let\u2019s have a stab at some. In absolute terms he ran his 9.98 in Nairobi which sits around 1800 metres above sea level. He ran into a 0.7 metres per second headwind. According to the wind\/altitude conversions readily findable via your search engines, the two factors roughly cancel each other out though there is a slight net benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kenyan all-comers record is held by America\u2019s Trayvon Brommel who beat the third placegetter in Kennedy\u2019s race, Ferdinand Omanyala, by 0.01 in the 2021 edition of the Keino Classic in 9.76. Splitting Kennedy and Omanyala last weekend was South Africa\u2019s Paris Olympic relay gold medallist Bayanda Walaza. Omanyala\u2019s PB is 9.77, Walaza, who won the 100 and 200 metres double at last year\u2019s world U20 championships (beating Gout Gout in the latter), had run 9.94 the previous weekend. Very credible opposition, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten seconds for men\u2019s 100 (or 11 for women\u2019s) is also the benchmark for true world-class sprinting. Sub-10 puts a male sprinter in almost every Olympic and world championships final ever run (and, as they say, anything can happen in the final). The slight downer there is that the one final of the past four global championships where this did NOT apply was Paris24. It took times of 9.91, or faster, to take one of the two automatic final spots from the three semi-finals while 9.93 was the slower of the two non-automatic qualifiers. But 9.98 would have made the Tokyo20 Olympic final and the world championships final in Eugene and Budapest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty Feet from Stardom<\/span><\/i>, a film which won the best documentary Oscar in 2014, details the experiences of the back-up singers (overwhelmingly female) who support some of the biggest names in popular music but for various reasons never quite attempt or complete the jump to individual stardom. Twenty feet refers to the distance they stand behind the stars.<\/span><\/p>\n

At 10-second 100 metres speed an athlete covers about 10 metres per second, one metre per 0.1 seconds, 10 centimetres per 0.01. Before last weekend, with a 10.00 PB, Kennedy was 10 centimetres from stardom. Now, he is in the mix to make the final at the world championships later this year. Not yet superstar status, but in the constellation of potential medallists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another positive factor in Kennedy\u2019s sub-10 is it represents the continuation of an upward trend in Australian men\u2019s (and women\u2019s) sprints. Again, Kennedy alluded to this himself in his post-race comments. In short succession Gout Gout has run two just-windy 9.99 times of 9.99 at the national championships, a resurgent Rohan Browning 10.01 to edge Kennedy (also 10.01) to win the senior national title and Kennedy has taken the silver medal in the 60 metres at the world indoor championships and dipped under 10.<\/span><\/p>\n