Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has taken his first steps towards living up to the immense hype, qualifying for the semi-finals of the 200 metres at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
The 17-year-old, who has drawn comparisons to the legendary Usain Bolt through a brilliant junior career, ran a time of 20.23 seconds in the fifth of six heats.
It saw him place third in the heat — which was one of the quickest of the night — and qualify directly for the 24-man semi-finals. He was the 12th-fastest man overall.
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Gout beat Israel’s Blessing Akwasi Afrifah — who has a personal best time under 20 seconds — in his heat, which was won in 19.84 by Jamaica’s Bryan Levell. The Aussie teen was under pressure at the bend but held his nerve beautifully, and capped his race by excitedly shaking the hand of every fellow runner.
“Job done. He is going to learn so much from all of that,” doyen commentator Bruce McAvaney said on SBS.
Gout Gout competes during the 200m heats.Source: Getty Images
Co-commentator Tamsyn Manou added: “That was a lot of pressure that was on Gout Gout’s shoulders. He is only 17 years of age and he should be at school, but he is at the opening round of the world championships 200m and he has made it through automatically.
“And you can see the emotion pouring out. He’s gone to every athlete to say ‘well done’. He’s a likeable lad.
“But that was a lot of pressure and he just did it. He’s extraordinary.”
Jamaica’s Bryan Levell (L) and Gout Gout embrace after their 200m heat.Source: AFP
Gout said: “It’s great experience. I mean, running against the big dogs. It’s great and I’m excited for more.
“It’s definitely great to know that I’m up against the top-24 in the world, pretty much. I’ve been in Japan since Friday and getting to today felt so long, and today just happened. So it’s a pinch myself moment getting here.
“I’m the youngest in the field, just a young bull trying to get into the final and just do my thing and run like the wind. So sub-20 in the final, indeed that’s the goal. Let’s get it.”
Gout Gout qualified directly for the semi-finals of the 200 metres.Source: FOX SPORTS
The Aussie’s personal best is 20.02 though he has ducked under 20 seconds several times with slightly too much wind assistance, which means they do not count on his official record.
Gout will run in the 200m semi-finals from 10:02pm AEST on Thursday night, seeking to make the eight-man final.
Australia’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis is also through to the semi-final after a brilliant time of 22.56 in her 200m heat, in which she trailed only former world champion Dina Asher-Smith.
Lewis’ second-place time was eighth overall, meaning if all times were to be repeated in the semis, she would qualify for the world championships final.
She surpassed her previous personal best of 22.65.
Torrie Lewis competes against Dina Asher-Smith (R) in their 200m heat.Source: Getty Images
“I had just put so much pressure on my 100m and had so many expectations. This one, I was just trying to see how it went, just run how I run. I knew that if I could PB then I would put myself in the best position to get to the semi-final,” Lewis said.
“Obviously in a semi-final anything can happen and I feel like I’m definitely up there, but whatever happens, happens.”
Her semi-final begins at 10:24pm AEST on Thursday night, after the men’s.
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Three-time defending champion Noah Lyles (heat four) and Olympic gold medallist Letsile Tebogo (heat six) may claim they have the right to be considered Usain Bolt’s heirs.
However, for many the tall and rangy Gout is the one who has the raw potential to become the undisputed superstar of sprinting to succeed Bolt.
The Jamaican eight-time Olympic gold medallist and still the 100m and 200m world record holder retired in 2017.
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Gout ran 20.04sec at last year’s Australian All Schools Athletics Championship, only the second athlete to record a time faster than Bolt’s Under-18 best of 20.13sec.
In doing so he also broke the 56-year-old Australian national senior record set by the late Peter Norman when he took bronze in the 1968 200m Olympic final.
In June, Gout lowered it further by clocking 20.02sec at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava.
Bolt has taken a liking to Gout, posting a photograph of them together with the caption: “He looks like young me.”
Australia’s Gout Gout competes during the Men’s 200m event at the 64th Golden Spike athletics meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic on June 24, 2025. (Photo by Michal Cizek / AFP)Source: AFP
However, the 39-year-old Jamaican has also warned that huge potential does not always translate into success.
“It’s always easier when you’re younger,” Bolt told reporters in Tokyo.
“I used to do great things when I was young. But the transition to senior from junior is always tougher. It’s all about if you get the right coach, the right people around you, if you’re focused enough.
“So there will be a lot of factors that will determine if he’s going to be great and continue on the same trajectory.”
Gout, whose family keeps him grounded despite the glare of publicity – he still shares a room with his “messier” older brother Mawjen – admits comparisons with Bolt are daunting.
“In the moment it feels great because everyone wants to be compared to Usain, but at times it does get a bit overwhelming,” Gout says on his Australian Athletics profile page.
“Although I do run like Usain Bolt, I do maybe look like him in a couple of ways, I’m just trying to be myself.”
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Gout, who will return to school after the championships and wants to study psychology at university, will receive all the help he needs to remain himself from his father Bona, mother Monica and six siblings.
Both parents have tried to provide as much as they can for their children. Former law student Bona is a food technician and earns extra income by driving an Uber, and Monica is a cleaner.
It is Bona who has led the battle to restore the family’s name to Guot. James Templeton, the sprinter’s manager, insists otherwise.
“Gout Gout is how it’s going to be,” Templeton told SEN.
“You know the thing you hope to avoid in your ankle? That’s how it’s pronounced.”
Bona is adamant that Sudanese officials made a spelling error in Arabic on the paperwork when the family left for Egypt and is furious to be associated with the arthritic disease.
“His name is Guot, it’s supposed to be Guot,” Bona told 7NEWS last December.
“I know that Gout Gout is a disease name but I don’t want my son to be called a disease name… it’s something that’s not acceptable.
“It’s culturally very important and in particular if (family) see Guot Guot running they connect to the name.
“But when they hear Gout Gout they’ve lost the meaning of it.
“His mum is calling him Guot and the same here, I call him Guot.”
Whatever the outcome, the youngster’s growing fanbase is already quipping that he is “Gout of this world”.
Tokyo could be the beginning of a road which climaxes with gold at his home Olympics in Brisbane in 2032.
The World Athletics Championships can be watched on Nine and SBS in Australia.
– with AFP