The athletics world has a new sprinting sensation, and he is officially faster than Usain Bolt was at his age.
On Sunday, 18-year-old Australian track star Gout Gout delivered a blistering 19.67-second run in the 200-meter final at the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney. With this incredible performance, Gout not only obliterated his own national record but also broke Bolt’s long-standing under-20 world record of 19.93 seconds, which the Jamaican legend set back in 2004.
While American sprinter Erriyon Knighton ran a 19.49 in 2022, that time was not officially ratified as the U20 record because it did not meet the required anti-doping testing protocols. This leaves Gout standing alone in the history books as the official world under-20 record holder.
The teenager’s lightning-fast finish also makes him the very first Australian to legally break the highly coveted 20-second barrier in the 200m. In a testament to the surging power of Australian sprinting, the race’s runner-up, Aidan Murphy, also joined the sub-20 club by crossing the line in 19.88 seconds.
For Gout, this legally wind-aided achievement (+1.7 m/s) was a long time coming. He previously clocked a 19.84 at last year’s national championships, but an illegal tailwind kept it from entering the record books.
“I’ve been chasing it ever since I got that illegal sub-20,” Gout shared after his monumental victory. “It’s been on my mind this whole year and these past couple of months. For the past week, in my head, I would tell myself I’m running 19.75, and obviously 19.67, so, you know, gotta love it.”
The 18-year-old from Queensland has opted to pull out of the upcoming Commonwealth Games to direct his full attention to the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Oregon this August.
“It’s a big weight off my shoulder knowing that I ran it legally, and I have the speed and body to run times like that,” Gout said, giving a confident nod to his future. “I’m still only 18, just turned 18, so I definitely think I can go faster for sure.”
