Usain Bolt on teenage runner Gout Gout: ‘He looks like young me’
When asked to identify the fastest running nation on the planet, your thoughts may turn to Jamaica or the USA. Or, you may think of Botswana or Saint Lucia, thanks to the historic gold medal-winning performances of Letsile Tobogo and Julien Alfred, respectively, at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
But would you think of Australia? Probably not – until now.
A name on very few people’s lips until the weekend, 16-year-old Australian sprinter Gout Gout is certainly one to watch thanks to his outstanding recent performances over the 100m and 200m.
First, on Friday (6 December), Gout lined up for his 100m heat at this year’s All-Schools Athletics Championships in Queensland, Australia. Unstoppable down the straight and well clear of his competitors, the young talent covered the distance in a blistering 10.04 seconds. In the process, he set the fourth-fastest U18 100m time in history – and the fourth-fastest time ever run by an Australian sprinter of any age.
Although the race was wind-assisted, which means that Gout’s result can’t be included in official records, it certainly cements him as an up-and-coming athlete on the world stage.
Next up was the 100m final, which took place after the winds had died down. Here, Gout clocked a rapid – and legal – 10.17 seconds, which was enough to place him sixth on the official U18 all-time list for 100m. This beat his own previous (legal) 100m PB of 10.29 seconds, as well as the previous U18 Australian record, held by Sebastian Sultana, of 10.27 seconds.
But Gout was far from done with just the 100m. The following day, on Saturday (7 December), he turned in yet another impressive performance at the All-Schools Athletics Championships – this time, in the 200m.
In front of a bewildered crowd, Gout stormed to a time of 20.04 seconds, breaking Pete Norman’s Australian record of 20.06 from the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. It also transformed Gout into the second-fastest U18 runner in the 200m, behind only America’s Erriyon Knighton (19.84 seconds) and – perhaps more notably – one spot ahead of Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (20.13 seconds).
‘I didn’t expect it to be that fast, but I guess I ran Australia’s fastest ever time in the 200m,’ Gout told Athletics Australia after the race. ‘I have been chasing that record, but I didn’t think that it would come this year. I thought maybe next year, or the year after that.’
Thanks to Gout’s impressive weekend of running, many people have started to draw comparisons between the teenage Australian and the world-recording holding Bolt – including Bolt himself. Indeed, according to Andreas Trajkovski, who runs the Instagram account Jumpers World, Bolt said these words on Gout: ‘He looks like young me.’
This isn’t the first time that Gout has turned heads, though. In 2022, as a 14-year-old, he ran the 100m in just 10.57 seconds. Then, in August this year, he ran the 200m in a ferocious 20.60 seconds at the World Athletics U20 Championships, which is 0.01 seconds faster than 15-year-old Bolt’s 200m time.
The up-and-coming sprinter has already secured a sponsorship deal with Adidas, which means that he can now train with some of the best athletes in the world. ‘In January, I’m going overseas to train with Noah Lyles and his coach, Lance Brauman,’ Gout told Athletics Australia, looking ahead to 2025. ‘Hopefully, we can qualify for the Tokyo World Championships. If not, I’ll just finish school in Year 12.’
If his excellent form continues, we wouldn't be surprised to see Gout with medals around his neck at major senior championships in future.
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