<\/p>\n
L<\/span>ife comes at you fast, especially when you are Gout Gout<\/a>. In April, the 18-year-old prodigy became the fastest teenager over 200m in history. Then last month, he finally got his own bedroom for the first time, having bought his family a new six-bedroom house in Brisbane. Now, in Oslo on Wednesday, he is one of the headline acts in his first senior Diamond League race.<\/p>\n Excited? You bet he is. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a special event, knowing that it\u2019s my first race against the big boys,\u201d he says, with a smile that lights up a drab summer\u2019s day. \u201cIt\u2019s a different ballgame for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside him will be the Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo<\/a>, as well three other men who have run 19.80 seconds or quicker. Gout is not just diving in the deep end, but doing so off a 10m high board. Not that he is worried. \u201cI am going for the win,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n There is someone else he will also be chasing too. Ever since Gout became a viral sensation, aged 15, he has been compared to Usain Bolt<\/a>. Now, for the first time, he has a realistic chance to take down one of the Jamaican\u2019s many records.<\/p>\n In 2013, Bolt ran 19.79sec for the 200m in Oslo, which is still a Bislett stadium record. Gout\u2019s personal best is 19.67sec. So if the weather gods are kind \u2013 and the 12C forecast suggests otherwise \u2013 that time could be in his grasp.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a great feeling being compared to the greatest athlete we\u2019ve ever seen in track and field,\u201d Gout says when asked about Bolt. \u201cHe\u2019s the Goat for sure. I definitely want to follow in his footsteps, because he was the best to do it, but I want to follow my own path.\u201d<\/p>\n However Bolt, he confesses, isn\u2019t his hero. Instead, it is the 23-year-old Tebogo, who he first saw compete at the 2022 World Under-20 Championships. \u201cI was like damn, he\u2019s pretty good,\u201d says Gout. \u201cHe\u2019s just like me, a chilled guy.\u201d<\/p>\n At that point, Gout was just 14 and had personal bests of 10.95sec over 100m and 22.14sec over 200m. But soon afterwards he took a second off his 200m best, went viral, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n Yet in many ways he remains like any other teenager. He is a big gamer, who enjoys playing Fifa and Ghosts of Tsushima on his PlayStation. His favourite musician is the rapper J Cole, while his favourite foods are steak and pasta. But few other teenagers have signed a \u00a34m contract with Adidas that will see him up to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, or have attracted such fame.<\/p>\n However, Gout and those around him insist that he hasn\u2019t changed at all, despite the global attention which has included a 13-minute segment on 60 Minutes<\/a> in the US.<\/p>\n \u201cMy life hasn\u2019t changed too much,\u201d says Gout. \u201cI\u2019m still doing the same old, usual stuff. Training, hanging out with friends. But I definitely had a good experience when I went to the F1 in Miami. That was pretty sick.\u201d<\/p>\n