Gout Gout: 16-year-old rising sprint star breaks Australia’s nearly six-decade-old 200m record

CNN
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Just a day after 16-year-old sprint sensation Gout Gout ran the fourth-fastest 100m time of any under-18 in history, she has broken Australia’s long-standing men’s 200m record.

Peter Norman’s national 200m record of 20.06 seconds had stood since the 1968 Olympics, the country’s oldest remaining record, but Gout ran 20.04 seconds in the 200m final of the All-Schools Championships in Brisbane on Saturday set a new benchmark after 56 years.

The four leading sprinters were relatively even towards the end of the corner, but Gout reached his remarkable top speed at the start of the straight and left all competitors behind.

Gout is now the fastest 16-year-old 200m in history, holds the second fastest U18 200m time ever and now holds the new Oceanic 200m record, according to World Athletics.

“These are adult times and I, just a child – I lead them. It’s going to be a great future for sure,” Gout said, according to Athletics Australia.

“I didn’t expect it to be that fast, but I guess I ran Australia’s fastest ever time in the 200m race. I’ve been chasing this record, but I didn’t think it would come this year. I thought maybe next year or the year after.”

Gout burst onto the scene in 2022 when he ran the 100m in 10.57 seconds as a 14-year-old. In the last two years, the Australian, who turns 17 at the end of December, has drawn comparisons with sprint star Usain Bolt.

He attracted even more attention in August when he clocked a time of 20.60 seconds in the 200m at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships – 0.01 seconds faster than a 15-year-old Bolt in 2002, the record at the time.

“My video went viral just before the Junior World Championships 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’re just taking baby steps; I beat my PB by 0.01 and 0.02. In the hunt for the big sub-20 model it will certainly be great, but I’m not expecting too much.

“I can’t really process it at the moment. I think if I go to bed tonight and think about it, it’s going to be pretty crazy for sure. I have always done what I promised. Once I say something, I think about it and I follow it until I do it.”

Norman’s 20.06 seconds surprisingly earned him a silver medal in the 200 m final of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, but the race is best known for what happened afterwards.

Black American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze, respectively, and each raised a fist on the podium in the now-iconic “Black Power” salute, a protest meant to draw attention to the segregation and racism that exists in their home country rampant again.

In solidarity, Norman wore a badge on his left chest that read: “Olympic Project for Human Rights,” an organization founded a year earlier to combat racism in sports.