Sprint sensation Gout Gout runs fourth fastest U18 100m of all time at age of 16 | Athletics

Australian teenager Gout Gout’s star continues to rise after the 16-year-old ran the fourth-fastest under-18 100m time in history at the All-Schools Athletics Championships in Queensland.

Gout, who turns 17 at the end of December, rocketed to the line in just 10.04s to comfortably win his heat and beat the Australian under-18 record of 10.27s held by Sebastian Sultana. An illegal tailwind of 3.4 m/sec on Friday means the previous record still stands, but Gout’s spectacular time also smashed his personal best of 10.29s and is the fourth-fastest in all conditions by an Australian of any age.

Patrick Johnson holds the national 100m record of 9.93s set in 2003 at a meet in Japan and is the only Australian to run into the promised land of a sub-10 second 100m. Rohan Browning is now the only other Australian to clock faster times than Gout after running 10.01s in 2021 and 10.02s last year.

Gout will have another shot at breaking the 10-second barrier and joining US athlete Erriyon Knighton as the only under-18 sprinter to go under the mark when the 100m final is held later on Friday afternoon. The American ran the distance in 9.99s with +2.7 m/s wind assistance at the age of 17 in 2021.

The Brisbane-based sprinter also holds the Australian under-18 and under-20 records across 200m after he crossed the line in 20.29s at the Queensland All Schools Athletics Championships – just 0.23s behind the national benchmark set by Peter Norman when winning silver at the 1968 Olympic Games. Usain Bolt holds the 200m world record of 19.19s set at the 2009 world championships, and ran 20.13s when aged 16.

Gout contests the 200m event in Brisbane on Saturday.

The son of South Sudanese parents, Monica and Bona, who moved to Australia in 2006 and settled in Brisbane, with Gout Gout born the following year.