Gout Gout has broken yet another record (Image: Getty)
Australian sprinting sensation Gout Gout has become the fastest 16-year-old in history, running the 200m in a staggering 20.04s. He then told fans: “Remember it.”
The Brisbane star achieved the feat just Gout, who will turn 17 in December, was competing at the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships when he broke new ground.
The Queensland meet was already left speechless by the teenager’s 100m heroics on Friday. And they were stunned yet again as Gout broke a 56-year record – and smashed Usain Bolt’s time set in 2003.
Competing in the 200m event, as soon as the starting gun fired, Gout was off and pulled away from the rest of the pack in an emphatic fashion to achieve a 20.04 time – breaking Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Australian record.
“Remember it,” was the cry of an understandably and deservedly confident Gout as he spoke to reporters after the race. “I’ve been chasing that record, but I didn’t think it would come this year. I thought it would come maybe next year, the year after that,” he continued.
“Right now I can’t process it, but I guess tonight when I go to bed, I’ll think about it. These are adults. And me, I’m just a kid, and I’m running them (down). It’s pretty crazy.”
Gout has been hailed as a phenom (Image: Getty)
Gout has, understandably, drawn comparisons with Bolt, given his exceptional performances on the track. In clocking 20.04 over 200m, he also surpassed the Jamaica great’s time set at a similar age, when he ran 20.13sec at his under 18s meet in Barbados in 2003.
Bolt isn’t the only star sprinter whose name has been mentioned in connection to Australian athletics’ new poster boy, either. According to ABC, current Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles is rumoured to be welcoming Gout to train with him in the new year.