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We might have another Usain Bolt on our hands, and his name is Gout Gout. The 17-year-old Queensland-born sprinter has broken his own 200m National Record with a time of 20.02 seconds at an international debut in the Ostrava Golden Spike meet. 20.04s was what he set previously, breaking Peter Norman’s record set at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Now, he’s looking ahead to Europe and breaking the elusive 20-second barrier.
“Get some more races in me and it [20 seconds] will drop for sure,” said Gout after his first professional race at the Ostrava Golden Spike meet. “I feel good. New personal best, new national record in my first European race.”
To put this achievement in context. Usain Bolt holds the Ostrava Golden Spike 200m record of 19.83s, which is a time that he set as a 21-year-old when Gout was just six months old. Bolt also holds the men’s 200m world record with a time of 19.19 seconds (2009) and the men’s 100m world record with a time of 9.58 seconds (2009).
Gout has previously run under 20 seconds in the 200m and under 10 seconds in the 100m at the Australian Athletics Championships. However, both results were waived off because of an illegal wind.
Style-wise, Gout is a relatively slow starter like Usain Bolt. However, his signature slingshot off the bend once again proved to be enough against the competition, which saw competitors Reynier Mena finish in second (20.19s) ahead of Briton Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake in third (20.60s).
“I’ve felt stronger in training these last couple of months, and I’ve felt good since I got to Europe last Thursday,” said Gout after the race.
“I knew Mena would come hard at me the first 100, but I was confident I’d be close enough to come home strongly in the second part of the race, which is, of course, my stronger part.”
“I felt calm but strong as I came off the turn and was confident I’d be strong enough to get the win.”
“Another national record! Pretty happy with that, it’s not a bad first-up in Europe!”
Gout has already broken Usain Bolt’s under-17 world junior championships record for the 200m, and the comparison to Bolt is uncanny. So much so that the man himself has weighed in on the conversation on social media, saying “He looks like young me,” in an Instagram post shared by @jumpers.world.
Now, it’s only a matter of time before Gout breaks the 20-second barrier in the 200m, and Bolt’s records will come next.
