If consistency is a measure of greatness, then Gout Gout crept closer to that designation with another history-
making performance at the Queensland athletics championships in Brisbane.
Racing at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre where last year he broke Peter Norman’s long-standing 200m Australian record, the 17-year-old won the under-20 200m state title in a world-leading 19.98 seconds.
The mark was the sixth-fastest time by an under-20 athlete in history, putting him in the same frame as world record holder Usain Bolt who ran 19.93 as a teenager.
A 3.6m per second tailwind prevented the time eclipsing his own national record (20.04) but it will be remembered as the second-fastest time in any conditions in Australia, behind only four-time Olympic silver medallist Frankie Fredericks who posted 19.92.
“At the bend I thought I can really send it,” Gout said.
“I was happy and surprised, but I feel a weight off my shoulders.”
Gout’s potential world championships rivals, including occasional training partner Noah Lyles, are still emerging from indoor competition in Europe, but the young Queenslander now owns two of the world’s top-10 under-20 200m marks of all time.
Running so fast in March, ahead of the world championships in Tokyo in September, will send shockwaves through the sprinting ranks and he will have another chance at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne on March 29.
While still a Year 12 student at Ipswich Grammar School, Gout already has a sense of the electricity he is pumping through track and field.
The typically-sparsely populated grandstand at QSAC was packed with families wanting to see their home-grown idol.
And he delivered.
“It feels great because I’ve been at that stage watching people like Usain Bolt, getting goosebumps,” Gout said.
“For me to give people goosebumps feels great.”
Earlier in the day, Gout clocked 20.05 in the heats with a legal tailwind.
