The world’s biggest athletics talent, Gout Gout (16), has stunned the world once more after a video of his latest race surfaced on social media.
Gout Gout, an Australian sprinter of Sudanese origin, has been rewriting athletics history for the past two years and steadily breaking Usain Bolt’s junior records.
On December 6th, he set a new personal best in the 100 meters at the 2024 Chemist Warehouse Australian All Schools Athletics Championship, running an incredible 10.04 seconds.
This achievement places him as the fourth-fastest under-18 sprinter of all time and the fourth-fastest Australian ever, including seniors. Considering that he is two years younger than other athletes who have historically recorded faster times, it’s clear that he possesses phenomenal potential.
Unfortunately, his feat won’t go down in the record books because the race was run with a tailwind of 3.4 meters per second, exceeding the legal limit of 2.0 meters per second.
What’s particularly remarkable is that Gout Gout is faster in youth categories than Usain Bolt was at the same stage of his career. For example, at the U20 World Championships in Peru, he ran the 200 meters in 20.60 seconds, surpassing Bolt’s best time from 2002 when he was also 16.
If he continues his natural progression, there’s no doubt that the biggest achievements in global athletics lie ahead of him. Who knows, perhaps even Usain Bolt’s legendary records may one day be within his reach. It will also be interesting to see whether he represents Australia, where he lives and trains, or Sudan, the country of his origin.
Standing six feet tall, the Queensland athlete may not match Usain Bolt’s towering height, but he mirrors the Jamaican’s powerful stride and dynamic ground attack. Gout Gout, whose family is from South Sudan, began to shine in 2023 at just 15 years old, clinching the Australian Under-18 Championships in the 100m and 200m with impressive times of 10.50 and 20.87 seconds, respectively.
Discovered in seventh grade by coach Diane “Di” Sheppard, Gout first caught attention at the age of 13. His breakout on the international stage came in August, when he qualified for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru. Although he finished second in the 200m final, losing to South Africa’s Bayanda Walaza, Gout recorded an impressive 20.60 seconds—0.01 seconds faster than a 15-year-old Bolt’s performance at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston.
Reflecting on his youth, Bolt once shared on the High Performance Podcast: “When I was young, I didn’t understand the concept of ‘being great.’ At 15, I won the world juniors purely on talent and didn’t have to work hard because I was just naturally winning.”
Gout, however, embraces the challenge. “They say pressure makes diamonds,” he told Athletics Australia, “and I guess I’m better than a diamond right now.”
Photo: Getty Images
