16-year-old rising sprint star Gout Gout breaks Australia’s nearly six-decade-old 200m record
By Matias Grez, CNN
(CNN) — Just a day after running the fourth fastest under-18 100m time in history, 16-year-old sprint sensation Gout Gout has broken Australia’s longstanding men’s 200m record.
Peter Norman’s 200m national record of 20.06 seconds had stood since the 1968 Olympics, the country’s oldest remaining record, but Gout ran 20.04s in the 200m final at the All-Schools Championships in Brisbane on Saturday to set a new benchmark after 56 years.
The four leading sprinters were relatively level towards the end of the bend, but Gout hit his remarkable top speed entering the straight and left all competitors trailing in his wake.
Gout is now the fastest 16-year-old in history over 200m, holds the second fastest under-18 200m time ever, and now holds the new Oceania 200m record, per World Athletics.
“These are adult times and me, just a kid – I’m running them. It’s going to be a great future for sure,” Gout said, per Athletics Australia.
“I didn’t expect it to be that fast, but I guess I ran Australia’s fastest ever time in the 200. I have been chasing that record but I didn’t think it would come this year. I thought maybe next year or the year after that.”
Gout broke onto the scene in 2022 when he ran the 100m in 10.57s as a 14-year-old. The last two years have seen the Australian, who turns 17 in late December, draw comparisons to sprinting great Usain Bolt.
He garnered even further attention in August when he clocked in at 20.60s in the 200m at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships – 0.01 seconds faster than a 15-year-old Bolt managed in 2002, the record at the time.
“My video went viral right before World Juniors and that already created pressure. But you know what they say, pressure makes diamonds and I guess I’m better than a diamond right now,” Gout added.
“We just take little steps; beat my PB by 0.01 and 0.02. Chasing that big sub-20, it will be great for sure but I’m not expecting too much.
“Right now, I can’t really process it. I guess tonight when I go to bed and think about it, it will be pretty crazy for sure. I have always done what I said I will do. If I said something, it’s on my mind and I am pursuing it until I do it.”
Norman’s 20.06s earned him a surprise silver medal in the 200m final at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, but the race is more famous for what happened afterwards.
Black American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze, respectively, and each raised one fist on the podium in the now iconic Black Power salute, a protest aimed at highlighting the segregation and racism burning back in their homeland.
In solidarity, Norman wore a badge on his left breast that read: “Olympic Project for Human Rights,” an organization set up a year previously that opposed to racism in sport.
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