Australia’s golden era of athletics exploded into life in a bumper day in Perth on Saturday where the country’s top speedsters dead-heated in both the men’s and women’s sprint finals.

The wall-to-wall day of heart-stopping action at the Australian Athletics Championships has set up the meet’s piece de resistance — a head-to-head showdown between Australia’s fastest men, Lachie Kennedy and Gout Gout.

Kennedy was pipped to the men’s 100-metres crown by just 0.005sec by Olympian Rohan Browning in a thrilling final that suggests this is almost certain to become the greatest-ever crop of Aussie sprinters. Browning shot out of the blocks to beat hot pre-race favourite Kennedy. The pair had to be split post-race in a photo finish.

But that wasn’t the only edge-of-your-seat final.

Three athletes, including breakout Perth teenage star Leah O’Brien, could also only be separated by a photo. O’Brien was edged out by national record-holder Torrie Lewis on a razor-thin 0.004sec margin.

Cameron Myers took out the 1500m final earlier in the night, with a time of 3:34.39.

The 18-year-old ran a record-breaking 3:32.67 in February, now the fastest under-20 indoor 1500m of all time.

Although he had a slow start last night, Myers came back strong and held firm down the home straight to victory.

Olympic silver medallist Jess Hull won the women’s 1500m, Hull answered every question her opponents threw at her to maintain her reputation as one of the world’s top middle-distance runners.

Another Perth teenager, 14-year-old Emilia Reed, claimed a shock win in the under-20 women’s 200m with a personal-best time of 23.29.

Ahead of his prospective rematch with Gout — after he pipped the 17-year-old at last month’s Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne — Kennedy said he was disappointed he didn’t break the 10-second barrier in the final.

He also said Browning’s run shows just how strong the field is.

“It was a good race. Super close. He got me at the end,” Kennedy said.

“I missed my start a bit. My transition wasn’t as good as what I liked it.

“But credit to Rohan. He ran a great race. He equalled his PB and it just goes to show the amount of talent we’ve got in the sport right now.”

“I’m sad I didn’t crack 10, but there’ll be plenty of other opportunity to crack 10 down the line so I’m not too stressed about it, just taking it one race at a time.”

O’Brien won the hearts of the State earlier in the week when she broke a record held by Olympic hero Raelene Boyle for nearly six decades for the fastest-ever under-20 100m.

Only fellow teenager Lewis stood in between her and a shock boilover. The time she ran at the junior championships on Tuesday would have landed her a win.

But the Perth College student didn’t even expect to make the final, and now she knows expectations will grow.

“I was pretty nervous. Honestly my goal was just to make the final so I’m just grateful to be here because last year I came ninth in the final,” O’Brien said.

“So to improve by that much is just insane. I’ve hopefully got more to come, this is just the start of it for me and I’m very excited to see what else I can do.

“I didn’t come into this weekend expecting to run a huge PB. I came in expecting if I could run a small PB, get a medal in under-18s I’d be happy.”

Now she knows the expectations will grow.

“This is probably my last one where I’m not going to feel as much pressure to perform, so I just wanted to go out and have fun,” she said.