Usain Bolt lit the Olympic flame in Beijing at 22 with an electric 9.69 in the 100 meters.
Seventeen years later, a teenager from Ipswich, Australia, is turning heads with the kind of blistering speed that echoes the legend’s early days.
Gout Gout, a 17-year-old sprinting sensation born to South Sudanese parents in Queensland, has become the fastest rising name in Australian athletics.
From shattering decades-old national records to challenging world-best under-18 marks, Gout’s meteoric rise is sending shockwaves through the track and field world.
In December, the high school senior ran a staggering 20.04 seconds in the 200 meters, breaking a 56-year-old Australian record once held by 1968 Olympic silver medalist Peter Norman.
That time also surpassed Usain Bolt’s under-18 mark and ranks as the second-fastest ever by a U-18 athlete, trailing only American Erriyon Knighton.
Just a year prior, at 15, Gout clocked 20.87 to break the national U-18 record at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships in Brisbane.
The streak didn’t stop there.
By April 2024, he had captured the Australian U-20 men’s 100-meter title in 10.48 seconds in Adelaide.
At the World U-20 Championships in Lima, Peru, Gout secured silver in the 200 with a personal best of 20.60.
He backed that up by winning both the 200 and 400 meters at the GPS Track & Field Championships in October, clocking 20.86 and 47.57 seconds, respectively.
Then came the pro call.
On Oct. 28, Adidas signed the teenage phenom.
Days later, at the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships, he scorched the track in 10.04 during the 100m heats – the fourth-fastest U-18 time globally and fifth all-time in Australia.
He later won the final in 10.17, breaking the national U-18 record held by Sebastian Sultana. The next day, he repeated his 200-meter magic with another 20.04.
But even a rocket can stall. At the historic Stawell Gift in April 2025, a 120-meter handicap race dating back to 1878, Gout started too far back and missed the final.
As a back marker, his explosive form ironically worked against him. Only heat winners advance, and he placed second behind John Evans, who ran from a more favorable position and later won the race.
Still, the buzz around Gout is real.
His recent wind-assisted sub-10 and sub-20 sprints – though unofficial – have reignited Australian interest in track and field.
The stage is already being set for a tantalizing rivalry with 21-year-old Lachlan Kennedy, the World Indoor silver medalist over 60 meters. The duo’s clash at Stawell had the country glued to their screens.
Gout’s sights are firmly set on Brisbane 2032. He’ll be 24 when the Olympics land in his hometown. Even reigning Olympic champ Noah Lyles sees it, calling Gout’s rise a “perfect storm” during a podcast appearance.
“That’s the end goal for sure,” Gout said. “Yeah, 2032, that’s what I’m at for sure.”
For now, Gout is taking a short break to focus on school. But the fire is lit.
“This is a great meet. The crowd, the people, the track, everything,” he said after Stawell. “It feels pretty incredible. People come from all around Australia to watch me run.”