17-year-old Gout Gout blazed to two record-breaking times in the space of a few hours at the Queensland Athletics Championships.
Teenage sensation Gout Gout has become the first ever Australian to break the sub-20s mark after stopping the clock in a wind-assisted 19.98s (+3.6) to effortlessly win the 200m U20 final at the Queensland State Championships.
The 17-year-old achieved this feat only hours after turning heads with a personal best and world-leading time of 20.05s (+1.2) in the heats as he continues to demonstrate why he is the most exciting talent in sprinting.
Speaking after his historic achievement, the elated youngster said he went through the full spectrum of emotions throughout the course of the race.
“I had an unsteady start, and to be honest, after that I didn’t really feel like running,” Gout said in an interview with Australia Athletics.
Gout Gout was miles ahead the rest of the field in his record-breaking 200m race
“But it felt pretty good. I came off the bend and I just kept sending it. I felt the wind behind me, so I was like, let me just use it. And then I saw the clock, and when it got rounded down (to a sub-20 time), I just couldn’t be happier,” he added.
“I felt literally free. I had 80m left to go, and I thought, let’s send it, and only from then did I believe I had a chance of going sub.
 "Gout Gout clocks fastest-ever 200m time by an Australian in all conditions 2")
Michael Johnson believes the present generation of American athletes such as Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson aren’t in the elite league yet of transcending track and field.
“Seeing the clock, I was really happy and surprised in a way, but it just felt like a weight off my shoulders. Now that I’ve done it, I’ve just got to do that more consistently.”
Dubbed the next Usain Bolt, Gout Gout with each race lives up to the hype by breaking records and clocking times the legendary Jamaican never achieved at that age.
He broke Perter Norman’s Australian 200m record of 20.06 in December aged 16, a mark that had stood since 1968. The day before, he ran the fourth-fastest 100m time in history for an under-18-year-old, clocking a wind-assisted personal best of 10.04.
Though his time in Sunday’s final won’t count for the record books, Gout does become only the seventh athlete under the age of 20 to run a sub-20-second 200m time in all wind conditions.
It also provides further evidence that the Ipswich High School student could become one of track and field’s all-time greats. The legendary Bolt has previously praised his talent and said that Gout “looks like young me.”
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