Australian 18-year-old superstar Gout Gout has set pulses racing after running a 200m time quicker than Usain Bolt managed at the same age.
The teenager set a time of 19.67 seconds to win a national title in Sydney on Sunday, claiming a world under-20 record in the process.
Bolt, the Jamaican legend who holds the 100m and 200m world records, clocked a 200m best time of 19.93 at 17 years of age back in 2004, and did not go any faster as a teenager.
Five years later, Bolt would set the 200m world record in Berlin with a time of 19.19 – Gout is already only less than half a second behind that mark.
Gout, who was born in Queensland to parents from South Sudan, did run a wind-assisted time of 19.84 last season – but Sunday’s race was his first legal sub-20-second time.
"This is what I've been waiting for," Gout said afterwards.
"We have such incredible athletes in Australia and me being able to race these athletes, we push each other to the limits. Two Australians sub-20. I mean, this is amazing.
"There's a big weight off my shoulders knowing I ran it legally, and I have the speed and my body to run times like that. So, it definitely feels great, and ready for more."
As mentioned, Gout’s compatriot Aidan Murphy also went sub-20 in Sunday’s race at the Australian Athletics Championships with a time of 19.88.
The quickest 200m ever-run by an under-20 athlete is American sprinter Erriyon Knighton’s 19.49 time in 2022, but it was not officially ratified as a world under-20 record. Gout did beat another best time set by Knighton – 19.69 – in claiming the record over the weekend.
Gout’s main focus this season is the World Under-20 Championships in Oregon in August, meaning he will skip July’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
