In Australia, Lachlan Kennedy is the hunted. A national champion and one of the fastest men his country has ever produced, he demands respect on home soil. But Eugene is a different story entirely.

At the Prefontaine Classic, the 22-year-old lines up against a field where almost everyone is faster. Kennedy knows exactly where he stands, and he wouldn’t change a thing.

The 22-year-old will be up against Oblique Seville, 2026’s fastest man over 100m, alongside Olympic medalist Kenneth Bednarek and Gift Leotlela. Despite that, the Australian is salivating at the challenge because he loves being the underdog, even if he is chasing after records.

“I like lining up against the world’s best and not being a favourite; I like being a smoky, I like being an underdog. It’s a good feeling, it’s exciting, it’s intense, it’s pretty raw,” Kennedy told ABC Sport.

“The extreme focus [of] competing against the world’s best, I live for those moments. I wanna run against the world’s best.”

Even if reigning Olympic champion Noah Lyles won’t be a part of the starting lineup, Kennedy will have his work cut out. Seville and company, alongside former world lead Kayinsola Ajayi, will be more than enough of a challenge. That includes Christian Coleman, Ackeem Blake, and Trayvon Bromell, three men who blitzed past him in the 2025 Prefontaine Classic.

On that occasion, Kennedy finished eighth in a field of nine racers, registering 10.07. In comparison, Bromell (9.94) finished third, Blake (10.03) finished fifth, and Coleman (10.06) was seventh. However, 2026 has seen the situation change completely for Kennedy, even if the 22-year-old has only broken sub-10 on four occasions.

Kennedy ran a brilliant 9.96 during the first heat of the Australian Athletics Championship this April. That made for the 27th fastest time in 2026 so far, ahead of fellow competitor Gift Leotlela. Kenneth Bednarek and Akani Simbine are marginally slower than Lachlan Kennedy. However, he believes that the competition at Prefontaine will only spur him to improve even more.

“I want to have to run my best race in order to win,” Kennedy added. “You don’t want to run a bad race and win; it’s kind of unsatisfying. But if you run a really good race and you win, that’s the best feeling in the world … and even if you run a great race and get second, it just drives you even more to know there’s still people better than you; that next thing, the next goal to reach.

“I would much rather run against a bunch of fast people than have an easy race.”

For Lachlan Kennedy, though, racing the world’s best isn’t the only motivation driving him this season. Every fast field also brings him one step closer to a mark that has stood untouched in Australian sprinting for more than two decades.

Lachlan Kennedy reflects on aiming for the national record

When Patrick Johnson set the Australian national record in 2003 with 9.93, few expected anyone to break it. That has largely been the case, as until the end of 2024, Rohan Browning (10.01) was the closest to the record. He clocked that in 2021, with only three other runners in the 2020s making the top ten. Then 2025 arrived, and the entire situation changed completely.

Last May, Lachlan Kennedy (9.98) had taken over second place, with two more names joining him in the top ten. In fact, Australians have recorded 35 of the top 93 times in the 100m since January 2025. Now, with Kennedy clocking 9.96 twice (at the Australian Athletics Championship itself), Johnson’s track and field record is under threat.

What makes it even more interesting is that since January 2025, Kennedy’s 9.96s and 9.98s are the only legal sub-10 times run by Australians in that period. Gout Gout has a 10.00 to his name, Eddie Nketia clocked 10.06, while Jackson Rowe registered 10.14. The tide is changing, and Kennedy believes it’s about time that Johnson’s time has passed.

“Records are meant to be broken,” Kennedy told ABC Sport. “Patrick Johnson’s record’s stood for longer than I’ve been alive, so I think it’s about time that record goes.” 

Lachlan Kennedy arrives in Eugene as the bona fide underdog, and that’s exactly how he wants it. If the Australian record is going to fall, he seems determined to chase it the hardest way possible, against the best sprinters in the world.