After competing on the biggest stage of his young life, Australian sprinter Gout Gout, who has drawn comparisons to Jamaican legend Usain Bolt, framed his debut at the World Athletics Championships as a learning experience.
Which is fitting for a 17-year-old who still has to study for his final exams.
Gout, already a sensation in Australia, ran in the men’s 200-meter semifinals at National Stadium in Tokyo on Thursday night but failed to advance to the final. He finished fourth in his heat to miss out on an automatic place in the final, which is scheduled for Friday, and his time of 20.36 seconds was not enough to claim one of the remaining two slots.
“Just take away everything for sure,” Gout said after the semifinals when asked what he learned. “Take away how to handle the pressure, how to handle it right before the (starting) block, how to handle the call room. Everything, just all the things you wouldn’t really expect about a world championship is what I’m going to take away. Just put that in my head and just continue forward.”
Gout ran a 20.23 and finished third in his first-round heat to qualify for the semifinals, where he finished behind Jamaican Bryan Levell, reigning Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and American Courtney Lindsey in their race.
“It was really good,” Gout said of the experience. “Semifinalist and go out there and compete against the big guys, I couldn’t be prouder of myself.”
Following the race, he reflected on what it was like to rub shoulders with some of the sport's biggest names.
“My whole mindset was getting out hard and sticking with them and trying to pedal down the home straight,” Gout said. “I definitely think I did that pretty well. I just did my thing, of course, ran that bit hard and then came home.”
If there was any disappointment, Gout did not show it. He was upbeat and optimistic after the race and spoke with an assuredness that there is much more to come.
“More talented than I was (at 17),” said U.S. sprint star Noah Lyles, who has trained with Gout. “He’s an amazing kid. He’s got a great head on him, got a great team around him. It’s going to be interesting to see how he develops.”
Gout’s world championships debut was highly anticipated. He burst on the global scene as a 16-year-old when he ran a 20.04 in the 200 last December. The time set the Australian national record (which had stood since 1968), the U-16 world record and was the second-fastest by an athlete under 18.
He lowered the national record to 20.02 in June at the 64th Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic.
Gout had been hoping to set another personal best and go under 20 seconds in Tokyo.
“Today wasn’t the day,” he said. “God didn’t allow it today. I know in the future, it’s going to be coming, for sure.”
Gout received as much media attention in Tokyo as some of track and field’s biggest stars, a sign of the swelling expectations around him.
“The thing that I always look for when I'm looking at a younger talent is are you going to be able to train into shape,” said Lyles, who entered the world championships as the three-time reigning champion in the 200. “Because when you're in high school, you're able to just get races all the time, whenever you want. But as a pro, you gotta come prepared already. And then two, just seeing how they put some weight on him as time develops — naturally, not just all at once.
“But he’s got a great coach (Di Sheppard). She's constantly looking to be a better coach, and she's constantly looking to be the best for him. We'll see. I'd say the future looks bright for him.”
Gout’s present includes getting back to his studies.
“I'm gonna be competing at the World Championships, and then maybe a month later, I'll be doing my final exams and competing at my school,” he said. “So it's definitely crazy. I mean, I'm going back to high school, and these people are going back to their homes, going back to their jobs.”
Gout’s age, however, gives him one advantage over some of track and field’s other sprinting stars.
“The thing I have on them is I got time,” he said. “They may not have 15 years, but I got 15 years. I know that I can keep running. I know that if I can do this at 17, I can do this at 25, and I’ll be even better at 25.”
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.