Teenage sprint star Gout Gout’s coach Diane Sheppard believes her prodigy can break Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Australian 200m record next year after smashing the Australian under-20 record.
Norman’s record time of 20.06, set at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics is the longest-held senior record in Australian athletics. Norman earned a silver medal for his run and famously stood alongside gold medallist Tommie Smith and bronze medallist John Carlos on the podium and
Australian teen sprinting prodigy Gout Gout blasts through a 200m in 20.29 seconds (+1.2 wind) at the Queensland All Schools Track and Field Championships.
Gout, 16, set a new Australian under-20 record in the 200m of 20.29 seconds at the Queensland All-Schools Championships on Sunday, beating previous record holder Aidan Murphy’s time of 20.41.
Sheppard is now confident her charge can continue his astonishing progress in the sport by breaking Norman’s long-held record.
“The Peter Norman record could go next year, it’s a matter of how do we progress from here,” Sheppard said.
“What do we need to do? Our whole basics will be, just continue the way we are and start to look at more emphasis on his start [in the race], which we’ve already started to do.
“But that’s long term, because he’s going to grow a little bit more, he’s going to fill out, so your angles change, and it’s just that constant re-evaluation while he’s growing.”
‘built not just on Gout’s immense physical gifts, but also his willingness to work relentlessly on his craft in training.
“He’s an extremely humble young man, and he fully gets from the day we started this journey that it’s a journey,” Sheppard said.
“I think that’s half the issue with these [talented] kids. They start looking for the rewards way before and do not understand that it’s the whole process … the rewards happen, but you’ve got to be in there for the long haul.”
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