Australian sprinter Eddie Nketia has clocked a staggering 100m time of 9.74 seconds at a college meet in the US, but it will not count for record purposes because of a howling tailwind.
Nketia, who recently swapped his allegiance from New Zealand to Australia, completed the 100m/200m double for the University of Southern California at the Big Ten Track and Field Championships in Nebraska on Sunday. The tailwind was recorded at +5.6m/s, above the legal limit of 2m/s.
This was the second time in as many months that he ran faster than Patrick Johnson's longstanding Australian record of 9.93s, but on both occasions the wind assistance was excessive. Nketia also won the 200m in 20.03 seconds with a tailwind of 7.5m/s.
“It’s crazy man, to run 9.74 even with the wind,” Nketia said. “It shows I’m getting better and can see the progress and the season isn’t over yet. I’m really hoping this season on the back of that to get a legal PB and show I can compete.”
The 25-year-old could form part of a formidable Australian 4x100m relay team including Gout Gout, Lachlan Kennedy and Rohan Browning at next year’s world championships in Beijing and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
His coach, Brenton Emanuel, said: “We’ve talked about this within our staff … Eddie could be one of the best who’ve ever done it as a whole. I can’t say he’ll be the best in the world because obviously Usain Bolt was an anomaly, but I definitely think Eddie has a long career in track and field.”
