Lachie Kennedy upstages Gout Gout on Australian athletics’ historic night
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Teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout has been upstaged by rival Lachie Kennedy in the 200m at the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne on a night that confirms athletics’ resurgence in Australia.In front of around 10,000 fans at Lakeside Stadium, the first sell-out at an Australian one-day athletics meet in more than two decades, the 17-year-old finished just four hundredths of a second behind his fellow Queenslander. Kennedy, who last week won Australia’s first medal in the 60m at the world indoor championships, finished in a personal best of 20.26s after running a powerful bend and holding off Gout at the line.The 21-year-old said he could feel Gout, the 200m national record-holder, closing in the final metres and said he “got lucky” this time. “My goal was just to go out hard and try my best to hold him off,” Kennedy said. Gout said he will use the defeat as motivation, and competing against Kennedy in recent years has helped him improve his speed. “It’s not a new rivalry, but it’s a rivalr...