Gout Gout Closes in on Australian Sprint Greats

Comparisons with teenagers are no longer valid for Gout Gout after he bolted to the fourth-fastest 100 metre time in all conditions by an Australian at the national All Schools Championships in Brisbane.
No Australian teenager has run faster than Gout’s illegally wind assisted 10.04 second in his heat on Friday, and only national record holder Patrick Johnson (9.93), Rohan Browning (10.01) and Matt Shirvington (10.03) have run faster in legal conditions.
At just 16, it seems only a matter of time before Queenslander Gout will obliterate those standards.
To emphasise his heat time was no lightning strike, he returned two hours later to win the final in a wind legal, and national under-18 record of 10.17 seconds.
Others may have teased with their promise, but the Under-20 World Championships silver medallist has generated levels of excitement not seen on the Australian track since Olympic gold medallist Sally Pearson.
“I’ve been chasing this national under-18 record for a while,” Gout said.
“This was great atmosphere, this does wonders for track and I couldn’t be happier.”
Gout, who turns 17 at the end of the month, will travel to the United States in January to train with Olympic 100 metre champion Noah Lyles.
Age group records are one thing, but his bar is now higher, and he has set his sights on qualifying for next year’s world championships in Tokyo and, beyond that, Olympic gold.
“When I was younger I didn’t think I could compete against the best or even train with them,” Gout said.
“Now I’m up there I couldn’t be happier.”
Season-best performances from Western Australia’s Josiah John and Jackson Moule from New South Wales earned them silver and bronze medals behind Gout.
The remarkable thing about Gout’s heat performance was that he had to overcome an unspectacular start.
At the 20 metre mark of his heat he was third, before he engaged his long, powerful pistons and the 3.4 metre/seconds tailwind to bolt clear.
The 16-year-old’s time crushed Jack Hale’s meet record of 10.13.
And there remains the promise of more to come in the 200 metres on Saturday.
Gout was not the only sprinter to dazzle on the opening day of the titles.
Gold Coast’s Thewbelle Philp broke Lauren Hewitt’s 21-year-old girls’ under-17 100 metre meet record when she clocked a sizzling 11.38 seconds in the final.