Gout Gout’s Coach Weighs Risks Ahead of the 17-Year-Old’s World Championship Debut

“He looks like a young me,” said Usain Bolt last year when asked about 16-year-old Gout Gout, who shattered a 56-year-old record of 20.06s set by Peter Norman at the 1968 Olympics. Gout clocked an astonishing 20.04 seconds in the 200m; he also nearly eclipsed Erriyon Knighton’s world-best for an under-18 athlete and pushing Bolt’s 20.13 to third on the all-time list. That single race turned Gout into a global sensation. Now, with back-to-back 9.99s at the national championships in Perth, he heads to the Tokyo World Championships with sky-high expectations. His coach believes he’ll gain even more advantage as he grows taller, but remains cautious, ensuring training doesn’t stunt his development.

At the end of last year, the 17-year-old athlete measured an impressive 180.3 cm. However, just before the World Championship, he stood at 183 cm. His coach, Di Sheppard, noticed the change earlier this year upon returning from the Stawell Gift. Talking about his height as well as his stature, Sheppard stated, “When we got out of the car and were walking in the airport, I turned around and I felt like I had to look up more. I looked at him and went, ‘you’ve grown.’ He looked at me like, ‘yeah, right’. I’ve never been wrong yet – even when mothers tell me they haven’t, I tell them to go home and measure their kid.”

Many in the world of track and field, including Bolt himself, believe that Gout has an uncanny resemblance to the all-time great. Gout’s technique mirrors Bolt’s, with those long, powerful strides and an upright posture. Although he is making strides on the sports side, his stature still doesn’t quite match that of Bolt. The all-time great stood at 1.95m (6ft 5in) and had reached that height by the age of 15.

Gout, on the other hand, is growing more slowly than his idol, but his coach believes he can match Bolt in height in the future. Di Sheppard wonders whether his student can grow further, considering that Gout’s father, Bona, is taller than him and has longer arms. If he does have room for growth, Sheppard is cautious about not putting too much stress on his body with strength work that might risk his development.

“We’ll move into that when we can add that with some power, so it’s not about really trying to force it, because, I mean, he’s 17 and he’s still growing. It’s a step-by-step-by-step process, so when you hit one mark, [you say] ‘OK, we’ve got those, we can get out of the blocks in our first two steps’. We know his top-end speed’s there, but you don’t drop that to work on this, you gradually improve this [his start] to match that [his speed],” Di Sheppard further added.  But while his growth spurt draws attention, his speed remains the real story.

At just 17, the Aussie is already making strides that put even seasoned veterans to shame in a rather unexpected turn. Last month in Queensland, the young sensation lined up for a schoolboy race (GPS athletics championships) that left jaws dropping. He clocked a tremendous 9.94 seconds in the 100m, a record time for him. This time could have made him the fastest 100m runner this season, but since it was a schoolboy meet and hand-timed, it won’t be recorded officially.

Talking to the media, Gout’s manager, James Templeton, stated, “It’s a low-key event, the GPS, but it’s good to get a run in, a nice little warm up, and shows the form he is in for Tokyo in three weeks. It was hand timed, but it was a race effort, and that’s important in the weeks leading up to Tokyo.” Fact: His 9.94 speed nearly broke Patrick Johnson’s Australian record of 9.93 seconds, set way back in 2003.

Not breaking records doesn’t mean much to the Aussie, though, as he has his sights set on reaching the top. And what better way to make his debut than by representing Australia’s senior national team at the 2025 World Championships? Now, with Tokyo in sight, his eyes remain firmly on Usain Bolt.

Gout Gout is looking for nothing less than gold ahead of the Tokyo World Championships

While having a discussion with the media about his performance, the 17-year-old athlete explained that his goal is the Olympics.

“I think the limit is just obviously winning the Olympics and winning world championships and just honestly dominating like Bolt did. So I think that’s a limit, a reachable for me.” Looking to surpass Bolt, Gout Gout has already set records that have led many to believe Bolt’s legacy might one day be broken.

Ahead of his World Championship, he broke the national and Oceanian records when he clocked 20.02s in the 200m race at the 64th Ostrava Golden Spike held at Mestský Stadion, Ostrava on June 24th.

After that phenomenal performance, when asked about his resemblance to Usain Bolt, he replied, “Who doesn’t want to be Usain Bolt? Being compared to Usain Bolt feels great, but I would like to put my personality in the upcoming story.” He added, “The main goal of the season is obviously the World Championships. Let’s see what I can do on the world stage against professional athletes. Hopefully, I can run fast and perform well.”

With an amazing personal best of 10.17 in the 100m and 20.02 in the 200, Gout is already setting the track on fire. And as he gears up for the global stage in Tokyo, the Australian national champion will have the world watching every stride.