18-year-old Gout Gout surpasses Usain Bolt’s U20 record with his fastest 200m sprint at 19.67 seconds

Australia's Gout Gout on April 12 broke the national record for the fastest 200 metre sprint, clocking at 19.67 seconds. The 18-year-old achieved the feat at the Australian Athletics Championships.

Gout surpassed Bolt's record for Under-20 set in 2004. Bolt had clocked 19.93 seconds in 2004. He also got past Erriyon Knighton's Under-20 200m record of Rs 19.69 seconds set in 2022.

“Yeah that means a lot ... I’d written down 19.75 and for the past week in my head, I’ve been telling myself I’m running 19.75. Obviously 19.67, so you’ve got to love it,” Gout told reporters.

“I didn’t expect that. I was hoping for just under 20 (seconds), but not that. That was cool,” Gout told ABC Sport.

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Gout’s coach, Di Sheppard is impressed with Gout's timing and revealed that the teenager made just a couple of tweaks.

“We tweaked a couple of little things, worked his hands a bit better, just tried to get his turnover a bit better — and it worked.”

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This is the first time Gout has clocked under 20 seconds legally. In 2024, he clocked just over 20 seconds (20.04) at the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships. He had broken the record held by Peter Norman who won a silver at the 1968 Olympics, clocking at 20.06 seconds. It led to him being compared with the legendary Bolt. The Jamaican holds the world record for fastest 200 metre sprint at 19.19 seconds which was set in Berlin World Athletics Championships 2009 as a 23-year-old.

Another youngster shines

Not just Gout, 22-year-old Aidan Murphy clocked under 20 seconds as well. Murphy got over the line in 19.88 seconds.

At the same event, Lachlan Kennedy broke the record for fastest time (100 metre) by an Australian on home soil. Kennedy clocked 9.96 on April 11.

“It’s the standard I’ve set now, so hopefully I can go a bit quicker next time and see where it takes me,” Kennedy said. “I think the sky is the limit.”