May 18 (Reuters) - Australia's Eddie Nketia has promised to run 100 metres under 10 seconds in legal conditions this season after going under the symbolic mark with the help of an illegal wind for the second time in two months in Nebraska on Sunday.
The University of Southern California student won the 100 in 9.74 seconds and the 200 in 20.03 at the Big Ten Championships in Lincoln but had the help of a tailwind well above the allowed strength in both races.
"It's crazy man, to run 9.74 even with the wind," he said.
"It shows I'm getting better and can see the progress and the season isn't over yet."
The 25-year-old, who switched allegiance to race for Australia at the end of last year, also ran a 9.84 with an illegal tailwind at a college meet in California in April.
The New Zealand-born sprinter now holds the two fastest 100 times by an Australian in all conditions but knows he has to run legal times to get into the official record books.
"We goin sub soon," Nketia wrote on Instagram.
Only two Australians have run the 100 in under 10 seconds in legal conditions, record holder Patrick Johnson (9.93) in Japan in 2023 and Lachie Kennedy (9.96) in Sydney last month.
Nketia's personal best remains the 10.08 he ran in Eugene, Oregon in 2022.
"I'm really hoping this season on the back of that to get a legal PB and show I can compete," he said. "The all-conditions record is nice, but I really want that actual record."
With Nketia, 22-year-old Kennedy, and teenager Gout Gout all running fast times, Australian men's sprinting has never been in better health. The country will host the Olympics for the third time in Brisbane in 2032.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
