As Gout Gout blazes past Bolt’s U18 time with a stunning 19.84, skepticism lingers, even as Australia enters a golden era of sprinting.
When 17-year-old Gout Gout blazed through the 200m at the 2025 Australian Athletics Championships with a blistering 19.84, a murmur turned into a roar.
The number wasn’t just fast—it was faster than Usain Bolt at the same age. But not everyone’s sold just yet.
Coach, Rob, a seasoned track analyst and trainer, says he’s still cautious, despite the eye-popping performance that left Australia,and the internet buzzing.
“This train hasn’t just left the station—it’s taking us somewhere interesting,” Rob said in his viral YouTube breakdown titled.
“Gout just did the Unthinkable AGAIN?!”
His voice carried both awe and caution, reflecting the mood of a track world that wants to believe, but has been burned before.
That 19.84 was wind-aided, with a +2.2 m/s tailwind nudging it just over the legal limit. But even with that asterisk, the time makes a statement.
It’s the second-fastest 200m ever run by an Under-20 athlete under any conditions. More notably, it’s quicker than any time Bolt ran before turning 18—a jaw-dropping feat by any standard.
Just two years ago, Gout was already chasing Bolt’s teenage shadow, clocking a 20.04 at age 16, surpassing Bolt’s 2003 age-16 mark. The warning signs were there. Now, the spotlight is full-blast—and so is the scrutiny.
“I admit I was skeptical,” Rob confessed.
“And to some degree, I still am. There’s a difference between skepticism and cynicism.”
That tension, between disbelief and cautious optimism, perfectly encapsulates how many in the track and field community feel about Gout Gout.
Social media lit up following the performance, with fans comparing Gout to American phenom Erriyon Knighton.
“When I say he’s on Knighton’s level, I mean it. Same age, same stage, same kind of performance,” rob said.
In the same championship weekend, Lachlan Kennedy also set fire to the track. The 20-year-old ran a legal 10.00 in the 100m heats, just 0.07 seconds shy of Patrick Johnson’s 2003 national record of 9.93.
Kennedy’s time, aided by a modest +0.9 m/s wind, is now the fastest legal sprint by any Australian this decade.
“I was staring at the clock with 30 meters to go thinking, ‘Shit, I might get this,’” Kennedy joked post-race.
“I think with a dip it could’ve been nine [seconds], but I’ve got two more races to do that.”
The timing of Kennedy’s legal 10.00 couldn’t have been more cinematic. Just the night before, Gout had posted back-to-back 9.99s in the U20 100m final—both wind-aided and ineligible for record books.
Now, Australia finds itself on the brink of a homegrown sprinting renaissance. The rivalry between Gout and Kennedy is already heating up.
Back in February at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, Kennedy edged out Gout in the 200m by 0.04 seconds. Gout didn’t forget. In Perth, he answered with a statement. Now the head-to-head count stands at 1–1, and the rubber match feels inevitable.
Kennedy, ever the showman, welcomed the budding rivalry.
“The race for a legal 19 [in the 200m] and the race for a legal nine [in the 100m]—it’s so on,” he said with a grin.
“There’ll be a bit of chirping, for sure. It’s all good fun.”
But beneath the smiles and banter is a serious development. Australia, long known more for middle-distance stars and field event dominance, may finally be entering the global sprint conversation.