Excitement and anticipation are reaching stratospheric levels due to the mind-blowing feats of teenage Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout. The sixteen year old is attracting global attention for his exploits on the running track which have left fans of athletics flabbergasted.
Gout first ran the 100 meters in 10.04(+3.4) in his Under 18 heat at the Chemist Warehouse Australian All Schools Athletic Championships in Brisbane.It is the fourth fastest time by an Australian in all conditions.He followed it up by setting a new national record with a 10.17(+0.9) time in the final, besting Sebastian Sultana’s 2022 mark of 10.27 in the process.
It was a truly sensational sprint by the precocious teenager,prompting the commentator to exclaim “The future is here.You just watched it”.
Gout Gout was far from done.If anything,he was only getting started.He switched his attention to the Under 18 200 meters,becoming the fastest ever Australian over the distance,setting a new national record time of 20.04,breaking Peter Norman’s 20.06 from the 1968 Olympic Games.
That made him the second fastest Under 18 athlete in history,behind USA’s Erriyon Knighton,who ran 19.84 in 2021.For further context,the third athlete on this list is none other than the consensus Greatest Of All Time Usain Bolt,who ran 20.13 in 2003,five years before immortalizing himself in Beijing.
And so it is fitting that Bolt gave his two cents on the young Australian upstart Gout,simply commenting “He looks like young me”.A ringing endorsement and the highest praise possible.
Now obviously it still way to early and Gout Gout has a lot of work to do before surpassing or even emulating the Jamaican legend,but it speaks to his incredible talent that he is generating this much interest and attention at such a tender age.
In elite sport,development is quite often non-linear and there are many potential obstacles Gout Gout has to navigate to reach the peak of his astounding talent.But he is definitely an exciting one for the future.
