Gout and Kennedy renew rivalry, Hull eyes history as Australian athletics puts its best on show

An array of exotic, well-trimmed dogs will parade around Sydney Olympic Park this weekend as part of the Royal Easter Show. The zoomies, however, will be across the road.

Australia’s best athletes led by sprinter Gout Gout will dash around the newly laid blue track at the Athletic Centre, while others fly over bars or into sand.

The immediate goal is a national title and selection for this year’s Commonwealth Games or World Junior Championships teams. But this meet arrives at a time when the sport is building towards Los Angeles 2028 and on towards Brisbane 2032, and a new crop of athletes is out to prove their era has arrived.

History beckons for Hull

Jessica Hull, an Olympic 1500m medallist, raised eyebrows when she also raced the 800m at the World Championships in Japan last year. Alongside a bronze in the 1500m, her gutsy run to the 800m final – which included a new national record performance – only cemented her status as Australia’s track queen.

Jessica Hull and Claudia Hollingsworth will clash in the 800m and 1500m at the 2026 Australian Athletics Championships. Photograph: George Chan/AAP

This year, those same eyebrows hit the roof when Hull declared she would chase the 800m-1500m-5000m triple this weekend. The idea started as what she thought was an off-season joke with her coach and father Simon, but a week later it became a plan. “I asked Dad if he was serious, and he was like, ‘Yeah, if you want to do it, let’s try it, it’s the year to do those kinds of things’.”

Hull holds the national records in the two shorter distances, and is the defending champion at both 1500m and 5000m. But with fierce competition in each race – including 20-year-old standout Claudia Hollingsworth in both the 800m and 1500m, and national record-holder Rose Davies in the 5000m – the queen will be tested.

How much exactly? 33 minutes. The 5000m will be run around half an hour after the 800m final on Sunday. No Australian woman has won national titles in all three events at the same meet. Indeed, none has won all three events over their entire careers. Hull needs only the 800m to complete the first set.

• Women’s 1500m final, Friday 8.19pm (all times AEST)

• Women’s 800m final, Sunday 12.55pm

• Women’s 5000m final, Sunday 13.28pm

Bol stares down challengers

Defending 800m national champion Peter Bol surged back to top form in 2025 and set a new Australian record, even if he failed to meet his own expectations at the World Championships in Japan where he was eliminated in the heats.

At 32 and with four national titles, Bol is one of the veterans of Australian athletics, but a talented crop of younger athletes are out for his crown. Luke Boyes – the 22-year-old who scorched the field at the Maurie Plant Meet – leads a group of challengers that includes Peyton Craig, Daniel Williams and Bob Abdelrahim, Bol’s training partner in Melbourne under Justin Rinaldi.

“It’s probably the pinnacle of athletics in Australia, trying to crown yourself a national champion,” Bol said on Wednesday. “This weekend is not really about times, it’s more about victory.”

• Men’s 800m final, Sunday 1.03pm

Myers chases national record

Alongside Hollingsworth, Cam Myers is the other young middle distance phenomenon in Australian athletics. He has overcome issues with fainting in the past year to enter 2026 in frightening form.

Cameron Myers runs clear during the 1500m final at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

The 19-year-old won last month’s race at the Maurie Plant Meet by half a straight, in a time that was the fastest 1500m run by anyone on Australian soil, and the fastest by anyone around the globe so far this year.

The national record of Ollie Hoare – one of Myers’ likely opponents in Friday night’s final – is now within half a second of his personal best. The Canberra teenager will also run in the 5000m against last year’s champion Seth O’Donnell, and Ky Robinson, who finished fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo.

• Men’s 1500m final, Friday 8.45pm

• Men’s 5000m final, Saturday 8.45pm

Gout v Kennedy III

Even as a teenage superstar and national 200m champion, Gout has run largely without pressure in his first years at the elite level, and the Australian athletics community will give one of few local talents with Brisbane track medal potential the time he needs to find his peak.

Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy renew their rivalry after racing at the 2026 Maurie Plant Meet last month. Photograph: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

Despite the incessant hype, Gout’s progress has not been without obstacle. He still needs to be tested at elite meets with multiple rounds, given his failure to progress past the semi-finals at last year’s World Championships. Defeats to Lachlan Kennedy at the past two Maurie Plant Meets came after the sort of slow starts Gout that has said he is addressing with more time in the gym. Weaker-than-expected times at the Queensland state championships last month were explained by complaints of a cold.

But there is enough evidence to suggest Gout’s promise is legitimate. He appears untroubled by travelling, having set his 200m personal best last year in his first senior overseas race. He opened his 2026 season with a casual 10-second flat 100m run in Queensland, making him the third fastest Australian in the shorter distance.

And although he would be one of the favourites this weekend in the 100m as well, he is showing patience. He will race only the senior 200m here before the junior nationals next week in Brisbane, and is passing up Commonwealth Games glory to race the world’s best under-20s at the world juniors in August.

Last year’s 200m nationals final – when Kennedy false started and was disqualified – is ignored by most keeping score in the burgeoning rivalry for the title of Australia’s sprint king – like Bol, who has become a mentor to Gout. “Let’s make it the best of five,” he said on Wednesday at the event’s media launch. Why stop there?

• Men’s 200m final, Sunday 1.55pm