Eight months after school boy 17-year-old Gout Gout broke Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Australian record of 20.06 seconds in men’s 200m the Australian All Schools Championship, Japanese school boy 16-year-old Sorato Shimizu has become the U18 100m world record holder with a timing of 10.00 seconds in a local High School competition in Hiroshima in Japan on Saturday. Shimuzu, who is. student of the Seiryo High School in Ishikawa in Japan, broke the previous record of 10.06 seconds jointly held by Puripol Boonson of Thailand and Christian Miller of the USA. While Gout had become the second fastest U18 100m sprinter in the men’s 200m with his run of 20.04 seconds in December 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, Shimuzu’s feat in 100m makes him the fastest U18 100m sprinter in the world.
“I was determined to run under 10 seconds heading into the final. I’m happy to have set a high school record. I’d like to get a taste of it if I can make it” Shimuzu told the Japanese media after the meet.
Shizumi, who is 14 months younger than Gout, is now the joint fifth fastest Japanese runner of all time. Shimizu’s record run on Saturday also meant that he also broke the Japanese high school record of 10.01 seconds set by Yoshihide Kiryu in 2013. With Gout having a personal best timing of 10.17 seconds in 100m, there have already been talks in Australian media about the two teenage sensations racing against each other in an event. Shimizu’s record is also faster than any of the 100m timings recorded by Olympic champion Usain Bolt as a 20-year-old in his illustrious career.
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WORLD AGE 16 BEST
WORLD CHAMPS QUALIFIER
=5th JAPANESE EVERSorato Shimizu 🇯🇵 blew away the field in the boys 100m at the 2025 Inter-High School Championships in Japan, clocking 10.00s (+1.7) to take 0.09s off the previous world age 16 best!!! 🤯🔥
🎥 TF-bl4ik… pic.twitter.com/64fzQUcviR
— Owen (@_OwenM_) July 26, 2025
Bolt had clocked his first timing below 10.4 seconds at the age of 21 years and six months in March 2008 before he broke the ten seconds mark for the first time in his career with a timing of 9.76 seconds in May, months before he won the 100m title in Beijing Olympics.
Gout Gout had recorded his personal best timing of 20.02 seconds in the 200m race in Ostrava Golden Spike Meet in Czech Republic last month and Australian media have already started comparing Gout and Shimizu and expecting both the teenage sensations to run against each other in near future. “Gout is the rising star of athletics but the fact a boy younger than him has achieved a time he hasn’t is sure to get his competitive juices flowing. Similarly to Usain Bolt, Gout has suggested the 200m event is more suited to his running style, due to his slower start and trademark acceleration – similar to that of Usain Bolt.
But the Aussie will still be competing at several 100m events in the coming months and years, and is sure to have noticed the young Japanese phenom. Gout has gone under 10 seconds twice in his young career but both runs were wind assisted, meaning Shimizu has got one up on the Aussie sensation, at least for now. With Gout shining at the Diamond League and Shimizu clocking a world record time it is only a matter of time until the pair do battle on the track,” news.com.au wrote in their report about Shimizu feat.
Like Shimuzu, Gout, who was born in Ipswich in Queensland with his parents being South Sudanese immigrants, who moved to Australia in 2005, too had talked about his passion for breaking records. “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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