South Sudanese Australian Sprinter Gout Gout is the World's Fastest Teenager
The 16-year-old Gout Gout is rewriting athletic history, breaking records and drawing comparisons to Usain Bolt.
After breaking a 56-year record and becoming Australia’s fastest man over 200 meters this weekend, 16-year-old sprinting prodigy Gout Gout is on track to become the fastest man in the world.
Born and raised in Queensland to a South Sudanese family, Gout has taken athletics by storm. Since he broke onto the scene in 2022, when he ran the 100 meters in 10.57 seconds as a14-year-old, he has won medals at home andabroad.
At the Australian All Schools Athletics Championship, he ran 100 meters in 10.04 seconds, recording the fourth-fastest under-18 100 meters time in history and the fifth-fastest time by an Australian in any condition. While the result won’t count due to an illegal tailwind of 3.4 meters/second, race commentatorMitch Dyer called his performance “history.”
Gout then ran 20.04 seconds in the 200 meter race, breaking Usain Bolt’s age-grade world record of 20.13 seconds and the Australian record of 20.06 seconds set by Peter Norman at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
Apart from his running speed, commentators are stunned by Gout’srapid improvement over a short period. From running 20.60 seconds in a 200 meter race in August, he lowered to 20.29 seconds in November, then to 20.04 seconds in December, reaching his goal of qualifying for the 2025 World Athletic Championships in Tokyo faster than he had anticipated.
“These are adult times, and me, just a kid — I’m running them,” Goutsaid. “It’s going to be a great future for sure... I have been chasing that record but didn’t think it would come this year. I thought maybe next year or the year after that.”
Gout’s effortless running style has led to frequent comparisons with eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt, whoagrees that Gout looks like a younger version of himself. “It’s pretty cool because Usain Bolt is arguably the greatest athlete of all time, and being compared to him is a great feeling,”Gout said. “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 has made a name for himself as the running sensation to watch. With aspirations for the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 andpredictions of peaking at the Brisbane Olympics in 2032, he will run in an increasing spotlight in the coming years.
In January 2025, Gout will betraining with Olympic 100 meter champion Noah Lyles and coach Lance Brauman, who invited him to Florida through their mutual sponsor, Adidas. His coach, Di Sheppard, considers the trip a learning opportunity to prepare him for the long journey ahead.
“We know the job is not done yet — we haven’t even reached base camp of Everest,” Sheppard toldThe Guardian.
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