Unheralded runner Eddie Osei-Nketia has come from nowhere to run the fastest 100m ever recorded by an Aussie.
After a month where Lachie Kennedy and Gout Gout have dominated headlines at recent meets, Nketia has quietly gone and done what no Aussie has ever done, setting a freakish time of 9.84 seconds during a college meet in the United States.
The 24-year-old, who previously represented New Zealand on the track, turned up the heat in the men’s elite 100m at the Hilmor Lodge Stadium during the Mt. SAC Relays meet.
Nketia’s time will not go down in the record books because the race took place with an illegal 2.8 metres per second wind boost.
It is still the fastest all-conditions 100m ever blitzed by an Aussie, surpassing Patrick Johnson’s famous 9.88 second run in 2003.
It is also the new Oceania record in all-conditions 100m racing.
Aussie athletics commentators have been blown away by Nketia’s run for the University of Southern California.
You can watch the run in the video player above.
Mitch Dyer posted on X: “Scary times in Aus sprinting”.
Aussie athletics analyst Tim Rosen posted: “Eddie Nketia runs 9.84s to become the fastest Australian All Time All Conditions!!! What an era of sprinting”.
Australian sports journalist Mark Gotlieb posted: “What on earth is going on in Australian sprinting”.
Australian Athletics also posted: “The Aussies are getting it done home and abroad”.
Four runners went under 10 seconds in the race, with Nketia missing out on the win by just 0.02 seconds to Jelani Watkins from Arkansas.
Nketia will now turn his attention to his first international competition for Australia after defecting from New Zealand in December.
He was earlier named in Australia’s 4x100m squad for next month’s world relay championships in Botswana.
He will go into the event as Australia’s fastest ever runner.
The record books won’t recognise the feat, however.
Johnson still holds the official record with his famous 9.93 yet to be toppled by Kennedy (9.96), Gout (10.00) and Rohan Browning (10.01).
Gout has previously broken the 10 second mark with a run of 9.99 seconds. That was also scratched because of an illegal tailwind.
Kennedy won the 2026 national title where he recorded a 9.96 second run — the fastest ever produced on Australian soil.
His previous personal best was 9.98 seconds set in Kenya in May, 2025.
Gout is yet to break the 10-second barrier, but it is at the 200m distance where he has achieved his most success recently.
Gout’s fastest 200m time is 19.67 seconds, achieved at the 2026 Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney last week.
This remarkable performance set a new Australian record, placing him as the second-fastest U20 runner ever.
Nketia, meanwhile, has also had an incredible journey to get to where he is now in his career.
The track star has lived in Australia since primary school and completed his transition to represent Australia in December.
“My goal with Australia is to break both the 100m and 200m record and also help the relay team to not just make the finals, (but) also to earn a medal on the big stage, and with the team I believe it’s possible,” he said last year.
“Not just LA, the Commonwealth Games, world championships and the world relays, any chance we get.”
