Gout Gout’s coach has shared how he truly reacted to being beaten at the Maurie Plant Meet – and he wasn’t happy. The teenage sprinting sensation put on a brave face after finishing four hundredths of a second behind Lachlan Kennedy in the 200m, but it was a different story once the cameras were off.
Kennedy, 21, needed a personal best 20.26-second time to get the better of Australia’s 17-year-old short-distance prodigy. A capacity crowd had turned out in Melbourne to watch Gout pit his wits against a field of sprinters who were all at least four years his senior.
After the race, Kennedy even offered an apology for ruining the result most spectators had been hoping for. “I just wanted to give them [the crowd] a good race,” he said. “It wouldn’t be fun if he just destroyed everyone. I’m sorry if it did spoil it, but what a great race, you can’t be upset with that.”
Gout is making his way into the senior ranks under the weight of great expectations in Australia and beyond. In December, the teenager eclipsed the world-record 200m mark for a 16-year-old of 20.13 seconds, which was set by the great Usain Bolt.
And it’s clear that Gout was unhappy about not living up to those expectations or showing his best form in Melbourne.
Gout’s manager, James Templeton, told Code Sports that the youngster was ‘p***ed off’ about the defeat. And his coach, Di Sheppard, added in an interview with ABC: “I know he’s quite angry about it.
“Everything we’ve done is a step forward, it’s all about learning how to cope with this environment as well, so I think he’s doing a great job. Just remember he’s a 17-year-old boy … and he’s got a bright future.”
Gout insists that coming second has made him even hungrier to succeed, and he is sure that testing himself against senior sprinters and in front of big crowds will only do him good.
“People will say winning feels great, second feels bad and third feels even worse,” he said. “So coming second is something you can experience. And it definitely puts fuel to my fire and it lights that burn.”
He added: “That’s what you live for – this environment, the hype, the people, the expectation, the pressure. This is sport, right? This is what I go to training every day for. The experience is second to none.
“This is something you can only get from a big meet, a Continental Gold meet, world championships and Olympics. Getting more runs like this will be great for me.”