Australia’s interest in the World Athletics Championships is about to step up a gear as Gout Gout prepares to take to the track in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday night, some time after 9:15pm AEST, Gout will run in the fifth heat of six men’s 200-metre sprint races.<\/p>\n
Expect the Australian sporting public to sit up and take note.<\/p>\n
But it won’t just be Australia with their eyes peeled and their stopwatches out \u2014 this is a debut the entire athletics world is paying careful attention to.<\/p>\n
Why is Gout Gout such a big deal?<\/p>\n
A selfie with Gout Gout is a huge prize. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n
There hasn’t been an Australian athlete with this much hype in a generation, perhaps ever.<\/p>\n
Yet Gout is the youngest ever man to be selected for a world championships in athletics, aged just 17.<\/p>\n
Gout Gout opens up about defeat<\/a><\/p>\n Gout Gout has begun to transcend the sport of athletics in Australia, but his surprising loss at the weekend served as a reminder that he’s still a teenager and ultimately success is never guaranteed.<\/p>\n This might be his senior bow, but he has already been turning heads.<\/p>\n His personal best of 20.02 seconds is an Australian record, beating the 56-year-old time set by Olympic silver medallist Peter Norman.<\/p>\n It was also faster than eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt’s U16 world best.<\/p>\n He has even gone under 20 seconds for the distance, although his 19.98 at the Queensland Athletics Championships in Brisbane was assisted by an illegally high wind so does not officially count.<\/p>\n In the last 12 months, Gout has become the face of Australian Athletics, has reportedly signed a multi-million-dollar sponsorship deal with Adidas, and spent time training with 2024 Paris Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles<\/a>.<\/p>\n When is Gout Gout running? Gout Gout has tasted a lot of success as a junior athlete already. (AP: Petr David Josek)<\/p>\n The 200m heats will take place at 9:15pm AEST on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Gout runs in heat five, lane eight.<\/p>\n Fellow Aussie Calab Law will run in lane two in the first heat, while Aidan Murphy is in lane eight of heat two.<\/p>\n Should Gout be one of the three fastest in his heat or one of the six next fastest, he will be up for the semifinals at 10:02pm AEST on Thursday.<\/p>\n The final is set for 11:06pm AEST on Friday night.<\/p>\n Who are the main 200m contenders? Noah Lyles is the defending champion and already has a bronze medal in the 100m so far. (Getty Images: Julian Finney)<\/p>\n Gout’s personal best time of 20.02 marks him out as an elite competitor.<\/p>\n However, to illustrate the scale of the task ahead of him, it is only the 16th fastest time that’s been run in the world this year.<\/p>\n In the field there are 23 runners with a faster personal best than Gout’s.<\/p>\n It is for all those reasons that just getting to the semifinals would be an enormous achievement.<\/p>\n Pre-race favourite Lyles has set the world-leading mark at 19.63 this year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n