AAP
Sad and grateful was how athletics prodigy Gout Gout farewelled his junior career and one of the most dazzling years on the track for an Australian sprinter.
The 17-year-old thanked his coach Di Sheppard and Ipswich Grammar School for the wild ride as he signed off as a schoolboy athlete by breaking his own meet record at the GPS Track and Field Championships in Brisbane on Friday.
Gout skipped his pet 200m event to run the 400m and 4x100m relay at the meet, and things almost didn’t go to script.
Brisbane Grammar School’s Seth Kennedy had earlier broken Gout’s 200m GPS record in a stunning 20.64sec, and he pushed the Ipswich star to his full capacity in the one-lap event.
Gout broke his own meet record to win in a personal- best 46.14, just a lunge ahead of Kennedy (46.64), who was also under the old mark.
Gout was proud to finish on a high note at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, where he first captured the world’s attention.
“This is the place where I found my speed,” he said.
“It definitely feels sad, but I’m definitely grateful.
“I just can’t wait to go on that next journey. For me, it’s the world stage.”
The meet was a landmark for Gout on at least two fronts.
It was his final appearance in the candy-striped red and white singlet of IGS, the school at which he had set at least five GPS records in a memorable high school career.
It was also the end of a dizzying 12-month period during which Gout seized the attention of the athletics world.
