The Australian running superstar stunned the globe with a lightning-fast performance in Czechia.
During his European debut, Australian sprint star Gout Gout stunned the world by breaking a world record in the 200m event.
As the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold arrived at the Ostrava Golden Spike in Czechia on Tuesday, all eyes were on the men’s 200m event, which featured Australian emerging star Gout Gout making his European debut.
With the World Championships slated to take place in Tokyo in September, competing in Europe for the first time constituted a huge milestone in the 17-year-old’s career, putting enormous pressure on him.
But the Australian, who has been considered by many as the only guy capable of breaking Olympic icon Usain Bolt’s long-held records in the 100m and 200m events, did not disappoint, clocking a lightning-fast pace.
Despite being the underdog, Gout Gout won the 200m event in an incredible time of 20.02 seconds, beating race favourite Reynier Mena, who ran 20.19 seconds.
In doing so, the child not only achieved a personal record, but also broke the Australian national record in the race, which is particularly noteworthy given that the sprint was not wind-aided.
It also brings him within two hundredths of a second of achieving a sub-20-second mark, which Bolt accomplished in April 2004 when he was also 17.
As it stands, Gout’s time is 0.83 seconds slower than Bolt’s world record 200m time of 19.19 seconds, set at the Berlin World Championships in 2009.
https://x.com/WorldAthletics/status/1937576504386552107
Bolt should be very concerned because, after retiring, he said that, despite having records in the 100m and 4x100m races, it is his 200m record that he values the most.
On the Ready Set Go podcast, the 38-year-old stated, “The 200m is my favourite race. So when I got that, it meant far more to me than the 100m.
“Even now, people ask, ‘Oh the 100?’ I’m like, ‘But, 200m, you know what I mean?’ It’s my favourite thing. When it comes to the 200m, I have no fear. “I’m always ready.”
xz
