Gout Gout has blitzed the field but fallen short of breaking the 10-second barrier while winning the 100m at the Australian athletics junior championships in Brisbane on Saturday.
The 18-year-old took time to get his motor going before settling into his stride and chasing down the leaders to cross the line in a time of 10.21sec with a legal tailwind of +0.5m/s.
Gout left plenty in reserve as he eased up and waved to the crowd before finishing ahead of Zavier Peacock who clocked 10.35sec. Queenslander Uwezo Lubenda burst out of the blocks and set the pace early before coming in third in 10.37sec.
“I didn’t have the best start, but I came out for the W [win], and I wanted to put on a show for the rest of the people watching,” Gout said after claiming his second consecutive under-20 100m nationals crown.
“The more of a show there is, the more people that are going to come and watch. The more people there are, the more pressure. The more pressure, the faster you run.
“At the end of the day, I’m going out there to have a bit of fun and run as fast as I can.”
The sprint phenom will shortly head overseas for his first senior athletics campaign which will include a showdown with Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo in the Diamond League meet in Oslo in June.
A week after rival Lachlan Kennedy made history by becoming the first Australian to break the 10-second barrier for the 100m on home soil – when twice running 9.96sec at the national championships – Gout chose not to target the same milestone when easing up 30 metres from the line in the under-20 final on Saturday afternoon.
Gout clocked a personal best of 10.00sec over 100m in February, and previously ran a 9.99sec in Perth with an excessive tailwind.
The teenage sensation and Kennedy are both eyeing off the national record of 9.93sec which Patrick Johnson has held since 2003.
Gout arrived at the junior championships in red-hot form after taking out the 200m at last week’s nationals with a legal time of 19.67sec – the fastest official under-20 time on record after eclipsing Usain Bolt’s 19.93sec in 2004.
He qualified fastest through the heats after clocking a 10.19sec on Friday but did not aim to better the mark the day after.
The Queenslander will skip the Commonwealth Games this year to focus on the 200m at the World Junior Championships in Oregon in August.
Gout and his team will decide in the coming months whether to add the 100m to his junior championships program.
More to follow …