Sprinter Gout Gout made headlines recently as he broke one of Usain Bolt’s records at the Under-20 World Championships, but who is the youngster many are tipping to be the next Olympic icon?
Teenage sprinter Gout Gout made headlines around the world recently after the 16-year-old broke one of Usain Bolt’s long-standing records.
It was at the U20 World Championships in Lima, Peru where Gout produced a stunning silver medal-winning time of 20.60 seconds in the 200m. His scorching time narrowly edged out Bolt’s own time of 20.61, a record the track legend set when he was just shy of 16 himself back in 2002.
The young Australian is now the name on everyone’s lips when it comes to discussing which athlete will finally walk in the huge footsteps of the Jamaican legend. Gout’s frightening pace has inevitably led to the heady comparisons, with the Athletics Australia president even among those seeing similarities to Bolt.
Gout now seems to be a real contender for Bolt’s age-group records in the 100m and 200m and will be eyeing up a place at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. So what do we know about the young man that fans and experts alike are now tipping for stardom? Mirror Sport takes a closer look.
Born in Queensland in 2007 to South Sudanese parents, who had emigrated to Australia a few years before, Gout always displayed a strong promise as a sprinter. As a 15-year-old, he not only won the men’s under-18 200m final at the 2023 Australian Junior Athletics Championships, but he also set a national under-20 record as a teenager.
Gout has also shown impressive pedigree in the 100m. He ran a stunning, and memorable, 10.29s in the race in March of this year.
The video of the event went viral at the time, with the young athlete exhibiting an incredible jolt of pace that saw him leave his rivals in his wake by some distance, cutting a confident silhouette on the track that has done little to dispel those comparisons to Bolt. To put his 100m result in context, if Gout had performed with that time at the Paris Olympics then he would have made it through the preliminary rounds and into the first round of the men’s 100m event.
Gout currently holds the Australian under-16 national record in both the men’s 100m and 200m. He has also set personal bests in both events in 2024, however, it appears he is taking it all in his stride.
Speaking about the comparisons with Bolt back in April, Gout displayed a maturity and calm not always associated with teenagers. He told Fox Sports: “It’s pretty cool because Usain Bolt is arguably the greatest athlete of all time and just being compared to him is a great feeling. Obviously I’m Gout Gout so I’m trying to make a name for myself. If I can get to the level he was, that would be a great achievement.”
Gout will be 20 years old come the next Olympic Games. However, the Games after LA, in 2032, take place in Gout’s home state in Brisbane, Australia. Whether it’s in LA or even on home soil four years after, Gout could well be the man to take the crown from Bolt.