Edward Nketia of NZL won the Mens 100 Metres Open final. Photo / Getty Images.
Edward Nketia of NZL won the Mens 100 Metres Open final. Photo / Getty Images.
A Kiwi teenager is now Australia's fastest man.
17-year-old Scots College student Edward Osei-Nketia, the son of New Zealand record holder Gus Nketia, won the senior men's 100m final at the Australian Athletics Championships on Saturday night.
Osei-Nketia set a new personal best of 10.19 seconds in the semifinals — just 0.08 off his father's record — before returning to the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre to win the final in 10.24 seconds.
The race which was expected to end Patrick Johnson's 2003 record of 9.93 seconds was well safe in the end as Nketia held off 21-year-old Rohan Browning.
Browning, who ran a 10.08 in Brisbane last month, was the favourite in a field including Jack Hale, Trae Williams, Jake Doran and Alex Hartmann in an impressive field.
But Nketia, who won the under-20s 100m with a 10.60, put in a great run to take out the title.
Trained by his father Gus Nketia, who ran for Ghana at the 1990 Commonwealth Games before switching allegiances to New Zealand, where he set the national record of 10.11, which is a target for Edward.
Nketia is trained by his father and spent eight years in Canberra before moving back to Wellington in 2018 to complete his schooling.
He admitted in January "my heart, it belongs to the Kiwis".
Speaking after the race, Nketia looked stunned.
"I couldn't believe it myself," he said. "Last month, when my dad entered me in the opens, I was kind of scared due to the big names. But my dad told me to concentrate on my own race and that's what I just did."
Osei-Nketia, who is now only 0.02 seconds off Olympian Chris Donaldson's personal best, said he planned to celebrate the biggest result of his young sporting career by sleeping it off: "I don't know, I'll go back to bed".
The Australian championship win comes after he also won the New Zealand national championship.
Edward Nketia of ACT/NZL reacts after winning the Mens 100 Metres Open final. Photo / Getty Images.
Nketia was also a promising rugby player and an Australian schoolboy sprint champion.
But after smashing his 100m personal best with 10.19 seconds in the semis on Saturday and backing up with a commanding victory in the final, his prospects on the track have skyrocketed.
"It feels so good," he said.
"I know I got pumped up for my semi but my dad just took me to the warm-up track and tried to calm me down.
"My dad thought I was capable of this but I think he was just bluffing."
