Kennedy leads Aussie men to Games relay gold

Australian sprint king Lachie Kennedy has spearheaded a dramatic Commonwealth Games victory in the men’s 4x100m relay.

Australia won in 38.07 seconds, stunning Olympic champions Canada (38.11), who crossed the line second but were later disqualified for an illegal changeover.

It meant Nigeria (38.12) were promoted to silver and Ghana (38.13) took bronze.

South Africa, featuring two members of their Olympic silver medal-winning team, were also disqualified as Australia claimed their first win in the event since 1974.

The last time the country won a medal, it was bronze in 2002.

National record holder and 100m individual silver medallist Kennedy gave Australia a strong start, teaming with Josh Azzopardi and Calab Law before Rohan Browning brought it home.

“These guys did all the hard work, put me in a winning position,” Browning said.

“All I had to do was hold on.

“Four years ago I fell over in the heat, got this team DQ’d, had to carry the burden of that for the past four years, and today makes gold taste extra sweet.”

Making the result even more impressive, Australia pulled it off without teen sensation Gout Gout and former Kiwi Eddie Nketia.

Gout prioritised the under-20 world championships before he was sidelined with a serious hamstring injury.

He and Nketia, who reached the individual 100m final in Glasgow, could be part of an even more formidable relay team for the Los Angeles Olympics in two years’ time.

Australia’s 4x100m women’s relay almost added to the medal tally but were a whisker away in fourth behind gold medallists Jamaica, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago.

Earlier, Ky Robinson added a 5000m silver medal to his 10,000m gold, digging deep late to cross the line second behind Kenya’s Mathew Kipsang. India’s Gulveer Singh was third.

Robinson took a marginal lead for the first time with two laps to go and injected some pace into the race before Kipsang took over.

The 24-year-old fought back and finished strongly to add to his medal tally, falling just short of becoming the first Australian in 36 years to win the event.

Robinson said silver was “nothing to be sad about” despite falling just short of his target.

“The plan is always gold and gold. Unfortunately, it fell a little short, you know,” Robinson said.

“When you’re out here racing, you want to win.

“That’s how simple it is and I don’t think that there was much I could have done today to win that race. I gave it my all.”