Sprint prodigy Gout Gout runs fastest 200m by an Australian since 1993
The 16-year-old clocked 20.29 at the Queensland All Schools Track and Field Championships to set a new national U20 record and go fourth on the Australian all-time list.
Athletics
Australian youngster Gout Gout gave further notice of his stunning potential at the Queensland All Schools Track and Field Championships on Sunday (3 November).
The 16-year-old, who was recently compared to sprint legend Usain Bolt by Australia's Olympic 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson, clocked 20.29 in the 200m heats in the southern Brisbane suburb of Nathan.
With a legal following wind of 1.2m/s, that was a new Australian U20 record and the quickest 200m by an Australian since Dean Capobianco ran 20.18 to finish fifth at the Stuttgart 1993 World Athletics Championships. It also would have qualified him for the Olympic final at Paris 2024.
Just days after turning professional, the son of South Sudanese immigrants is now fourth on the Australian all-time list for the half-lap sprint.
The Australian record of 20.06 was set by the late Peter Norman in the Olympic final at Mexico City 1968. Norman split Tommie Smith and John Carlos to take silver, and supported the two US sprinters who made Black Power salutes on the podium.
Gout, who was born and goes to high school 25km away in Ipswich, later timed 20.52 to win the final and complete a weekend sprint double. He took the 100m on Saturday in 10.31, just outside his personal best of 10.29.
As he turns 17 on 29 December, the 200m silver medallist at August's U20 World Championships may not have many more opportunities to eclipse Bolt's best time as a 16-year-old. The Jamaican ran 20.13 to take gold at the 2003 Pan American Junior Championships and, at the time, equal the world junior record.