Away from the Australian heat of cricket, a 16-year-old sprinter and viral sensation Gout Gout is making head down.
In the latest video, which has more than three million views, the Queensland-born teenager of South Sudanese heritage distances himself from his rivals, arriving late at the finish line but winning by a wide margin. Then he canters, stops and turns, before bending down, pointing the index finger of his right hand skyward and slamming his fist into the track.
The theatrics were in response to the performance on the clock – 10.04 seconds. Had it not been for the illegal wind speed, Gout Gout would have entered the record books as the fastest young athlete to run the 100m. Not to be outdone, Gout capped the day by winning the final in 10.17 seconds. He became the fastest under-18 Australian player to finish sixth on the all-time list.
This is not the first time gout has hit the headlines. Nor is it the only example of comparisons to Usain Bolt. Since the great Jamaican retired in 2017, many young sprinters have been named ‘the next Bolt’. The fixation on discovering the next superstar is not limited to track and field, with many ‘new Maradona’s’ or ‘next Tendulkars’ fizzling out like burning stars. After burning up the track and making waves as teenagers, young sprinters have met a similar fate.
Sorry what?!👂 10.04? 👀
Teenage sensation Gout Gout sent the crowd roaring in his U18 100m heat with a brilliant performance of 10.04 (+3.4) – the fourth fastest time by an Australian in history in all conditions.
Tune in for the final at 3:40pm AEST. tune in… pic.twitter.com/UbXfzH5mj6
— Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) December 6, 2024
There’s no escaping early stardom in sports-mad Australia for gout.
In August, gout caught the world’s attention. At the Under-20 World Championships in Lima, he clocked a personal best of 20.60 seconds to win the silver medal. Bayanda Walaja, the winner from South Africa, was two years his senior. Gout joined the big league of next-gen stars when Adidas signed him up after Lima. His time in the Peruvian capital immediately raised his profile. He bettered Bolt’s gold-winning time of 20.61 in 2002. Bolt was 15 at the time, Gout will be 17 on December 29.
Lima was a stepping stone. A few months later at the Queensland Schools Championships, Gout went faster (20.29 seconds) for a new Australian under-20 record with another bolt-like finish, with the rest of the field not even in frame when Gout plunged over the finish line.
Similarity in running styles
Bolt and Gout have similar running styles. Gout’s tall, seemingly unfazed on the track for a sprinter, is a slow starter but has blazing speed in the last 30 to 40 metres. He knows about Bolt’s long shadow.
“I see it (compared to Bolt). My stride length is much longer, my knee height is much higher and just the amount of height I’ve gained when I’m running. I’m just trying to be me. Obviously, I’m like him (Bolt). I look like him sometimes, but obviously I’m making a name for myself, and I think I’ve done that well. I want to continue to be not just Usain Bolt want to keep,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Early next year, Gout will have a golden opportunity to train with Olympic champion Noah Lyles in the 100m. Since Bolt’s retirement, Lyles has become the rock star of men’s sprinting. Being in the same training group as Lyles couldn’t have come at a better time for the 16-year-old to learn more.
His coach Dee Sheppard, with him in Florida, learned that the peak of gout was far from over. “We know the job is not done yet… we haven’t even reached the base camp of Mount Everest,” Shepard told The Guardian.
Plateau or burnout
Not shying away from early victories is an important lesson in sports where the best sprinters can plateau or burnout.
Trayvon Bromell is. At 18, he ran a wind-assisted 9.77 seconds at the NCAA Big 12 Conference. Seen as another sprinting sensation, Bromell, now 29, has never won an Olympic medal of any color.
At the age of 21, Japan’s Yoshihide Kiryu became the first from his country to run the sub-10 second 100m race. Earlier, he equaled the world junior record to raise hopes of becoming an Asian superstar. At 28, Kiryu has one Olympic silver and two World Championship bronzes — all in the men’s 4x100m relay.
Also in Australia, there is the cautionary tale of James Gallagher, a boy-wonder sprinter who peaked too early. When he was 14, Gallagher, from New South Wales, ran a 200m time of 21.73 seconds, faster than Bolt at the same age. Gallagher faded to 16.
Arion Knighton, 20, who failed to reach a podium finish at the Paris Olympics, is still seen as Bolt’s rightful successor. He has broken Bolt’s under-18 and under-20 200m, winning a bronze and a silver at consecutive world championships. But he has yet to challenge Liles at the big events.
Gout need look no further than Bolt to understand that setting a junior record or being super talented doesn’t guarantee a podium finish at the Olympic Games.
On the High Performance Podcast, Bolt talks about his reality check at his first Olympics, the 2004 Athens Games.
“Because of my talent I thought I was doing well … because I did well at the trials in Jamaica. Then you go to the Olympics and meet all these guys who have been training all year round and dedicated to their craft and I didn’t make it past the first round. “That was a bit of a wake-up call for me. It shows how far behind I am,” Bolt said.
It took three more years for Bolt to get his act together.
Gout is bound to experience setbacks on the track. Whether he lapses, like many ‘next bolts’ or sprints to dazzling heights. Only time, divided into hundredths of a second, will tell.