Australia’s fastest man out of the world championships

The world’s fastest race will be without Australia’s fastest man. Lachie Kennedy has been forced out of next month’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo with a back injury.

Kennedy, who became just the second Australian ever to legally break 10 seconds for the 100 metres when he ran 9.98 seconds in Kenya in June, has been forced out with a stress fracture in his back.

The 21-year-old has been managing the back injury since June and had hoped that it had settled down for him to be able to compete at the worlds, starting in Tokyo on September13. Scans in recent weeks revealed the bone had not improved and might have deteriorated slightly, prompting Kennedy to withdraw.

“He has been dealing with it since June and it has not healed. It’s lingering and, unfortunately, he just can’t train,” Kennedy’s manager Nic Bideau said.

“We thought it would improve, but unfortunately it hasn’t and he can’t put the work in to perform at the level he knows he can perform at and be competitive with the best in the world. He doesn’t want to go there to be one of the numbers and not be able to perform.

“He has the potential to be a contender in coming years so, while it’s tough, [and] no one wants to miss a world championships, he is 21 and you can’t jeopardise the future.

“The obvious thing is to take the long-term view, as disappointing as that is to miss a world championships – it’s a big three years coming up with a Commonwealth Games next year in Glasgow, the World Championships again in China in two years’ time, and the LA Olympics after that.

“With something like a back injury you have to hit it on the head before it becomes a bigger issue, particularly for a 21-year-old athlete.”

Kennedy won silver in the 60m at the world indoor championships in March and had hoped to be able to compete with the fastest men in the world in the 100m in Tokyo in three weeks’ time.

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