Teenage sprinting sensation Gout Gout set a new Australian 200m record on his senior international debut at the Golden Spike meeting in Czechia. The 17-year-old clocked in at 20.02, but doesn’t have long to go sub-20 like the iconic Usain Bolt did before his 18th birthday.
Gout attended his first senior European meeting in Ostrava on Tuesday, and his debut was highly anticipated. The teenager had already smashed Peter Norman’s long-standing Australian national 200m record with a 20.04 in December 2024 at the age of 16, and amongst some of the finest sprinters in Europe, he lowered his own personal best. The Queensland-born phenom won the men’s 200m event with a time of 20.02, finishing two-tenths ahead of Cuba’s Reynier Mena, the winner of the last two Diamond League 200m races.
The 17-year-old has been causing quite the stir since breaking Norman’s record in December, and smashed through the 20-second barrier in April with a stunning 19.84 to claim the Australian 200m title. However, this run was assisted by a wind speed of +2.2 metres per second, and does not count as an official record.
Gout’s exploits fell foul of excess wind again during the Australian Under-20 Athletics Championships in Perth, when he recorded two 100m times that were sub-10 seconds, but again did not enter the record books. However, Gout has now set a new official personal best in his preferred 200m at the Golden Spike meeting and was pleased with his performance.
“I feel good. New personal best, new national record in my first European race,” said Gout. “I don’t feel any pressure. Because as soon as I step out on that track, it’s just me by myself and what I’ve got to do – my favourite thing, and that’s to run.”
Gout also expressed the desire to officially break the 20-second barrier in the 200m, but feels like with more competitive action under his belt, such a feat is only a matter of time.
“I just go out there and run and nothing stops me from doing that,” he continued. “[I need to] get some more races in me and [the 20-second barrier] will drop for sure.”
Comparisons have been made between the 17-year-old and the current 100m and 200m world record holder, Bolt, who, like Gout, was a gifted teenager before setting Olympic stages alight. Four months before he turned 18, the Jamaican broke the 20-second barrier with a 19.93 in Bermuda in 2004, which became a new World Junior 200m record.
Gout has until the end of the year to match or break this barrier, as his 18th birthday falls on December 29. Yet, he has made it clear that while comparisons are warranted, he is eager to craft his own legacy.
“Although I do run like Usain Bolt and I do maybe look like him, I’m just trying to be myself and trying to be the next Gout,” he told Channel 7 in March. “I want to go to the big events. I want to go to the Olympics. I want to go to the ’28 Olympics in LA. I want to go to the [2032] Brisbane Olympics. And I just want to show the world that I’m Gout and how I’m here to stay.”
