- Clocked 10.21 to win 100m final at Australian Junior Championships
All eyes were on sprint sensation Gout Gout ahead of the men’s under-20 100m final in Brisbane on Saturday – and he delivered when it mattered.
Gout, 18, started well in lane five, before cruising home to win ahead of Zavier Peacock and Uwezo Lubenda.
His time of 10.21 won’t send an ominous message to his rivals globally, but Gout achieved what he set out to do – qualify for the Junior World Championships.
The teenager also cheekily found time to wave to the crowd – 15 metres from the finish line – after surging to the front at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre.
It comes after Gout had a message for those questioning his scintillating 200m performance at the recent national championships – ‘there’s always going to be haters.’
Gout, 18, clocked a sizzling 19.67 seconds in Sydney – a time quicker than athletics legend Usain Bolt at the same age.
All eyes were on sprint sensation Gout Gout ahead of the men’s under-20 100m final in Brisbane on Saturday – and he delivered when it mattered
His time of 10.21 won’t send an ominous message to his rivals globally, but Gout achieved what he set out to do – qualify for the Junior World Championships
But the likes of former Olympic gold medallist Justin Gatlin and US college sprinter Erin Brown have cast doubt on Gout’s glittering achievement, with the latter incorrectly stating the Brisbane teenager was significantly aided by an illegal tailwind.
The 200m run was legal, with a 1.7m/s tailwind at Sydney Olympic Park.
Brown also declared Gout will be a ‘laughing stock’ and has been ‘set up for failure’ when he competes overseas in Diamond League meets later this year in Oslo and Oregon.
‘I thought we really witnessed something special… a million people text me, man, Gout Gout just ran 19.6,’ Brown told his social media followers.
‘That made me inclined to go check the results. ‘Not gonna lie, and if you say this s**t is hating, your ass is coping, because you wanna be different.
‘This s**t is clearly fake. Obviously, overtly, this is as fake as it comes.’
Gatlin – who snared gold in the 100m at the Athens Olympics in 2004 – wasn’t as brutal, but he wants to see Gout perform overseas before declaring the Aussie is the real deal.
Gout, 18, clocked a sizzling 19.67 seconds to easily win the 200m final in Sydney at the Australian Athletics Championships – and it was a time quicker than Usain Bolt at the same age
Lachlan Kennedy broke the 10-second barrier in Sydney twice last week and is forming a fierce rivalry with Gout ahead of the 2028 Olympics
On Friday, Gout was questioned by journalists about some ‘salty’ comments emerging from America – and he laughed off the criticism.
‘There are always going to be haters, if you’ve got haters it means you’re doing something right,’ he said.
‘It is what it is, I never take it (to heart), I just keep running… obviously, it (200m time) was pretty fast, so that’s maybe why they (haters) were a bit mad.
‘It motivates me to do it in even bigger races, for sure.’