Gout Gout has underlined his status as one of athletics’ rising stars after running a 200m time faster than Jamaican legend Usain Bolt achieved at the same age.
The 18-year-old won a national title in Sydney on Sunday in 19.67 seconds, a time that also set a world under-20 record and marked his first legal sub-20-second run.
Bolt, the world record holder for both the 100m and 200m, recorded a personal best of 19.93 at 17 before later setting the current 200m world record of 19.19 in Berlin in 2009. Gout is now less than half a second shy of that mark.
Born in Queensland to South Sudanese parents, Gout said the performance was “what I’ve been waiting for”, adding that it felt “great” to run legally under 20 seconds and that he was “ready for more” after the breakthrough race.
