Headline acts Lachlan Kennedy and Gout Gout will both have to navigate tough paths through the semi-finals if they are to keep their Stawell Gift dreams alive.
Only the winners of the six semi-finals on Easter Monday advance to the final later in the day at Central Park, where the eventual victor of the 120m handicap race will pocket $40,000.
Backmarker Kennedy (0.25m) has been drawn in the first semi, where his biggest challenges are likely to come from 17-year-old flyer Dash Muir (7.75m) and Jacob Despard (1.75m).
Kennedy shot to international prominence when he won silver in the 60m at the world indoor championships in Nanjing, China, in early March.
He also pipped his friendly rival and fellow Queenslander Gout in the 200m at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne late last month.
The 21-year-old looked right at home in his Stawell Gift debut on grass on Saturday, when he clocked the third-fastest heat time of 12.23 seconds.
“I’ve watched this Gift many times, even before I started doing track, you always watch this as it’s a great event,” Kennedy said.
“It’s got a whole lot of history behind it and I’m just honoured to be able to run here and be able to put on a show.
“I’ve got heaps more in the tank and hopefully we can go even faster in the semi and the final because I’m going to have to.”
Schoolboy superstar Gout (1m) will race in the sixth and last semi, where his biggest challenge is set to come from John Evans, who clocked the fastest heat time of 12.13 off a generous mark of 9.75m.
Gout will be spotting Evans an 8.75m head start.
Jasper Thomas (6.5m) was the only other runner to go quicker than Kennedy in the heats.
He will take on 2023 Stawell Gift winner Ryan Tarrant (1.75m) in the second of the six semis.
Scratch-marker Chloe Mannix-Power will have to pull out all the stops to keep her dream of winning back-to-back women’s Gifts alive.
Her opponents in the second semi-final include the consistent Carla Bull (2.75m) and frontmarker Jemma Stapleton (11m), who had the second-quickest heat time of 13.75.
Paris Olympics 100m semi-finalist Bree Rizzo is also off scratch in the fourth semi-final.
The 2023 women’s Gift winner Bella Pasquali and Ellie Beer – who were both in the Australian team that won 4x400m relay bronze at the recent world indoors in China – have been drawn in the third semi.
The semi-finals start at noon (AEST), with the women’s final at 1.45pm and the men’s final at 2.20pm.
