AAP
BREAKING the magical 10-second mark appears a matter of when, not if, for Gout Gout after the sprint sensation clocked the equal-fastest legal 100m run by an Australian on home soil
Gout ran 10.00 (+0.9) seconds in his first race at the distance in 2026 in a wonderful performance at the Dane Bird-Smith Shield Meet at QSAC on Saturday.
With his time on Saturday, Gout sealed his first qualifying performance for this year’s world under-20 championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Gout’s new time matches the mark for a local on home soil set by Lachlan Kennedy in Perth in April 2025.
Kennedy and Patrick Johnson also ran legal 9.98 and 9.93 secs for the 100m in Nairobi (Kenya) and Mito (Japan) in 2025 and 2003 respectively, and they are the only two Australians to legally break the 10-second mark.
On Saturday, Gout also set an Australian under-20 record, eclipsing the 10.15 mark set by Jake Doran in 2018.
Doran commented on Australian Athletics’ Instagram post about Gout’s feat, saying: “It was only a matter of time!
Proud it took someone of Gout’s calibre to eclipse my mark!”
The 18-year-old opted not to compete at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, choosing instead to focus on the 200m at the world under-20 championships.
Gout wants to emulate the legendary Usain Bolt at the junior titles in Oregon, and Australian Athletics supported his decision.
Before going on to dominate world sprinting and rewrite the record books, Bolt kicked off his career with 200m gold at the 2002 world juniors.
If he triumphs in his pet event, Gout would also become the first Australian to win 200m gold at the junior world championships.
It would be his biggest accolade since bursting onto the global athletics scene less than two years ago.
After breaking Peter Norman’s 56-year-old 200m national record in late 2024, Gout made global headlines in 2025 with a world championships debut and 200m semi-final appearance.
