Australia’s fastest man pumps brakes after scan sounds alarm
Sprint sensation Lachlan Kennedy has pumped the brakes in his bid to medal at next year’s world athletics championships after a “warm and radiant” lower-back scan sounded an alarm.
Australia’s fastest man is locking in for a long and meticulous pre-season and planning to not race until late February following an MRI at the site of the injury that ruled him out of last year’s world titles.
Cloud 9.85: Lachlan Kennedy celebrates his Commonwealth Games stunner. AP
In the meantime, fellow Olympic sprinter Ella Connolly, who is part of the same squad as Kennedy, is rehabilitating what their coach has described as “the worst hamstring tear you could possibly do”.
Having had his 2025 season hijacked by a stress fracture in his lower back, Kennedy underwent a precautionary MRI when he returned home to Brisbane following his heroics at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where he clocked 9.85 seconds to win silver in the 100 metres.
The results of that scan are shaping his build for next year’s world titles as he prepares to take on the likes of Noah Lyles, Kishane Thompson, Oblique Seville and Kenny Bednarek.
“Lachie has just been doing gym work and working on a bit of mobility,” Kennedy’s coach, Andrew Iselin, told nine.com.au.
“We did a precautionary scan after the Comm Games ... and it was sort of warm and radiant around the bone area, so we’ve decided to be cautious and ease back into things a little bit more.”
The plan is for Kennedy, who turns 23 next month, to have his season-opening race at Melbourne’s Maurie Plant Meet, scheduled for February 26-27.
That would mean bypassing both the national short-track championships in late January and the Adelaide Invitational in mid-February, as well as a bunch of lower-level events.
“The reason for that is just managing loads and making sure we don’t over-race,” Iselin said.
“Because he’s obviously hit those faster times now, it’s probably more important than it was before to make sure he’s very specific with his races, especially while he’s developing.
“It was just a good thing for Lachie to get (the scan) so he could actually be like, ‘Cool, I need to take it a little bit easier’.”
There was a time when the Queenslander was doing “quarter squats” with 320 kilograms loaded onto the bar.
He’s been lifting just over 200kg, and using a belt instead of a bar, since overcoming the stress fracture in his lower back.
“At first he wasn’t super happy about it because the gym is his thing,” Iselin said.
“But no, he’s been really good. He’s shown a lot of maturity. The biggest development for him after the injury, I think, is him becoming a smarter athlete – realising he has to be smarter about doing things rather than trying to just work as hard as possible.
Lachlan Kennedy edges teen superstar Gout Gout in the 200 metres at this year’s Maurie Plant Meet. Getty Images
“All of his lifts are more about quality movement rather than him trying to ‘ego lift’.
“He actually realised, ‘Oh shit, I can’t just try and lift 320kg in a squat on my back’.”
Kennedy is shaping as a legitimate medal shot at next year’s world titles, to be held in Beijing in September.
Ripping a 9.85-second 100m was sure to thrust him into the mix with the big dogs.
“I think he can definitely be a medal contender in Beijing, but I guess we can’t help what other people do,” Iselin said.
“So our next big aim is to be a consistent low-9.9 runner ... If he can get there, he should be able to run even faster than what he ran at the Comm Games when the conditions are right.”
Connolly, a talented 100m, 200m and 400m sprinter, suffered a hamstring tear in February. It ended her season prematurely, dashing her plans to race in Europe and at the Commonwealth Games.
Australian sprinter Ella Connolly has undergone surgery after suffering a severe hamstring tear. Hannah Peters/Getty Images
She tore her other hamstring, her left one, a couple of weeks ago. That injury was far more severe – a complete tear at the T-junction and a three-centimetre retraction of the biceps femoris.
She flew to Perth to be operated on by the same surgeon who’s performed hamstring surgery on pole vault queen Nina Kennedy.
“Ella did probably the worst hamstring tear you could possibly do,” Iselin said.
“What made it really serious was the fact that she tore it, but then the muscle basically retracted, so they had to basically pull the muscle and essentially glue it back together.
“She is the type that will use this as a motivator to really work hard and do the other small things that she needs to do.”
Another of Iselin’s athletes, Commonwealth Games relay hero Calab Law, has switched to the 110m hurdles since returning from overseas.
Iselin also coaches Ash Moloney, the guy who claimed bronze in the decathlon at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. He is now a 400m hurdler, although he will open his season with a 400m sprint.
Another of Iselin’s athletes, Emelia Surch, has dropped heptathlon to specialise in the 100m hurdles.
