Gout Gout has ripped up the record books and earned inevitable comparisons with Usain Bolt. But after the teenage sprinter last month became a global sensation with his performances at the Australian school championships, World Athletics president Seb Coe is among those urging caution around a young man tipped to become the breakout star of 2025 – in any sport. Gout heads to Florida for a training camp with Olympic champion Noah Lyles in the coming days having broken the 56-year-old Australian 200m record when running 20.04secs in early December. That made the slow-starting, rapid-finishing Brisbanite the fastest 16-year-old over half a lap ever, eclipsing Bolt by almost a tenth of a second. It was also the second fastest run by an under-18 and sealed qualification for September’s World Championships in Tokyo.
A day earlier he clocked 10.04secs over 100m, which would have been a junior world record had it not been wind assisted. But Coe is leading the calls not to pile pressure on Gout, who turned 17 last Sunday and has penned a multimillion-pound deal with Adidas, in a sport where few of the fastest juniors become senior successes. “The toughest transition any athlete is going to make is from the upper echelons of junior into the senior ranks,” Coe warns. “Taking an athlete safely, securely, mentally and physically into their early 20s - that is tough.” Of the 13 men to run faster than 9.79secs in 100m history, only Bolt and reigning Olympic champion Lyles won world junior titles.
