17 year old sprint sensation Gout Gout has breached the 20 second barrier in his 200m final on Sunday. He becomes the first ever Australian to run a sub 20 second 200m, breaking the previous fastest time by an Australian – Peter Norman who ran a 20.06 at the 1986 Olympics held in Mexico City.
Unfortunately, this run did come with an illegal wind of +3.6m per second which makes the run unofficial. It is worth noting though that despite this illegal wind, he still managed to finish a whopping 2 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger.
The Ipswich born teenager gave a mixed review of his performance after winning the final.
“I had an unsteady start, and to be honest, after that I didn’t really feel like running,” he said.
“But it felt pretty good. I came off the bend and I just kept sending it. I felt the wind behind me, so I was like, ‘Let me just use it’.
“And then I saw the clock, and when it got rounded down, I just couldn’t be happier.
“Seeing the clock, I was really happy and surprised in a way, but it just felt like a weight off my shoulders.
“Now that I’ve done it, I’ve just got to do that more consistently.”
“It feels great because I’ve been at that stage, watching Usain Bolt on the news and just getting goosebumps,” Gout said when asked about the enormous crowd support.
“Giving people goosebumps, it definitely feels great, and I wish I can continue giving people more goosebumps, that’s for sure.
“In my heat, there was no crowd, so when I came out from warming up, I looked up behind me and there was this huge crowd. It just helps me fun faster, for sure.”
Gout Gout has now two tremendous accolades; being both the fastest teenager in the world currently, as well as bettering Usain Bolt’s 200m time at the same age. As an Australian, this is an incredibly exciting time as we could be witnessing a champion in the making. Internally, his team are targeting a 100m & 200m Gold Medal double at the 2034 Brisbane Olympics. What a story that would be – a Queensland local winning Olympic Gold in his hometown.
