The 17-year-old has been in record-breaking form ahead of the 2025 outdoor season. As he prepares to make his season debut this weekend, Olympics.com looks at how the next steps in his career could push him to run even faster.

 

 

There are many similarities between a young Usain Bolt and the prodigious Aussie sprinter Gout Gout.

 

From their tall, lithe frames to their broad, infectious smiles, it’s easy to draw comparisons between the two from a physical viewpoint.

 

But the most obvious — and important — similarity is the speed with which they have run, with Gout breaking Bolt’s under-16 200m world record last year at the Australian All Schools Championships with a mark of 20.04 seconds.

 

At the same time the Jamaican legend has been hinting at a potential return to the athletics track he hasn’t graced since 2017, telling the Ready Set Go podcast, “I’m ready, just for the fun of it. I’m ready, let’s go. It’ll be fun”, Gout is preparing himself for the next phase in his fledgling career.

 

And if his manager’s words are anything to go by, we may be about to witness something even more special from the record-breaking teen, who turned 17 at the end of December.

 

“We’re confident he’s kicked on further,” Gout’s manager James Templeton told The Guardian. “Gout is really looking forward to this weekend, as always he’s looking to run fast. Faster than before.”

 

The event Templeton is referring to this coming weekend is the Queensland Championships, the first of four competitions in Australia that Gout will compete in over the coming month.

 

While he has already re-written the history books, these upcoming races represent the next step in the development of a young athlete who has captured the attention of the world.

 

Gout Gout’s rise to the most talked-about young sprinter on the planet

Although he’s still in the early stages of his career, it’s easy to see why Gout is being compared to the very best sprinters in history.

 

In mid-February, the Australian ventured into the heady realm of the 400m — a world far different to the 100m/200m sprint distances in which he is beginning to make his name.

 

However, as we are becoming accustomed to, Gout delivered, setting a time of 46.20 seconds that is almost a full second faster than Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles’ personal best.

 

It followed the Aussie’s record-breaking 20.04-second 200m run in December 2024, where he not only broke Bolt’s age group world record but also became the fastest-ever Oceanian athlete over the half-lap distance — of any age.

 

While he may be running in the junior categories at this weekend’s Queensland Championships (lining up in both the under-20 100m and 200m), the next weeks will see him take on the cream of Australia’s senior athletes.

 

Gout is scheduled to race in the senior 200m race at the Maurie Plant meet on 29 March as well as at the national championships in Perth in early April, giving him vital experience in a year that includes an outdoor world championships that he has already stated he is eager to compete in.

 

After witnessing many races in which Gout has finished metres ahead of his competition, the stiffer rivalries he will face in the open age-group format will represent a new test for the teenager — and possibly one that will push him to run even faster.

 

Gout Gout and the lessons to be learnt from past champions

Of course, while the comparisons with the world’s best sprinters are easy to make, it’s worth remembering that Gout’s career is still in its infancy.

 

Not every race will produce a personal best and there are many cautionary tales of young athletes who peaked or plateaued early, never reaching the heights their promise hinted at.

 

While Bolt was a prodigious teenager, it took much more than natural talent to produce the world record and gold medal-winning performances he enjoyed later in life.

 

“The hardest thing is to motivate yourself,” the eight-time Olympic gold medallist told the BBC in 2016, the year before his retirement, referencing the dedication it took to maintain the highest levels of performance.

 

“I talk to myself… especially when I’m in training and I don’t want to do it anymore, I say ‘If you wanna be a champion you gotta go, get up’. I say ‘You’re gonna lose. You don’t wanna lose. So let’s finish this’.”

 

Lyles, by comparison, was something of a late bloomer. His best under-18 200m time (20.71s) puts him only 33rd on an all-time list led by Erriyon Knighton, Gout and Bolt, while his fastest under-20 time (20.09s) only places him 10th on the all-time list.

 

For now, athletics fans enjoy Gout for what he is — an exciting young sprinter who has brought new attention to the athletics world through performances that seem well beyond his age.

 

And perhaps, as the athlete himself does, allow ourselves to dream a little about what’s to come.

 

As Gout told Athletics Australia, “These are adult times and me, just a kid – I’m running them. It’s going to be a great future for sure.”