Eight months after he broke Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Australian record of 20.06 seconds in men’s 200m, 17-year-old Australian teen sensation Gout Gout has announced that he will run in next year’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
The Australian athlete had ran his personal best in men’s 200m with a timing of 20.02 seconds sin the Ostrava Golden Spike Meet in Czech Republic last month and is now expected to run in 100m event in Glasgow with a possibility of running in 200m event too. Gout Gout will also be competing in the world junior championships in the USA starting August 5 with the Glasgow Commonwealth Games happening from July 23 to August 2 next year.
“We need to wait for the full Commonwealth Games program to be released, but yes we are planning that Gout will be available to run an event in Glasgow before going onto the World Juniors in Eugene,” Gout’s manager James Templeton told Code Sports.
In December last year, Gout had become the second fastest U18 sprinter in men’s 200m with US athlete Erriyon Knighton being the fastest U18 200 m runner with a U18 world record time of 19.84 seconds set in 2021 at the age of 17 years, with his timing of 20.04 seconds in the Australian All Schools Championship in Brisbane breaking Norman’s record of 20.06 seconds made in his silver medal winning feat in 1968 Olympics.
Track legend Usain Bolt had run 200m with a timing of 20.13 seconds as a 16-year-old in 2003 and also holds the all-time world record of 19.19 seconds made during the 2009 World Championships. While Bolt never competed in an individual race in Commonwealth Games, the Jamaican legend was part of Jamaica’s gold medal winning 4X100m men’s relay team in 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
“It’s very exciting when our best athletes publicly announce their intention to be at the Games. There is of course qualification processes that all of our athletes will need to go through, a lot can happen in the year leading into a Games. It’s really exciting that the athletes are saying they want to compete in the Games and we’re looking forward to having our best athletes possible on our team ready to go in a year’s time. There is of course qualification processes that all of our athletes will need to go through, a lot can happen in the year leading into a Games. It’s really exciting that the athletes are saying they want to compete in the Games and we’re looking forward to having our best athletes possible on our team ready to go in a year’s time.” Petria Thomas, Australia’s Glasgow 2026 chef de mission, told ABC Sport.
The 17-year-old Gout was born in Ipswich in Queensland with his parents being South Sudanese immigrants, who moved to Australia in 2005. The teen sensation, who will be competing in the World Championships later this year, will also hope to emulate Bolt, who won the 200m title in world junior championships in 2002, in the world juniors in USA post Commonwealth Games. He had also talked about comparisons with Bolt after he came up with his best timing of 20.02 seconds at Ostrava.
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Back in 2006, Bolt had made his European debut winning the gold in Ostrava with a timing of 20.28m before he went to break world records and won three Olympic 200m golds along with other Olympic titles. I feel good. New personal best, new national record in my first European race. I don’t feel any pressure. Because as soon as I step out on that track, it’s just me by myself and what I’ve got to do – my favourite thing, and that’s to run. So, I just go out there and run and nothing stops me from doing that … Get some more races in me and (the 20-second barrier) will drop for sure.” Gout told reporters after winning the title in Ostrava.
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