Gout Gout Sets Under-20 200m World Record in Australia

Australian sprinter Gout Gout, an 18-year-old prodigy, captured global attention by winning the 200-meter title at the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney on April 12, clocking a time of 19.67 seconds that set a new under-20 world record and surpassed the teenage best of sprint legend Usain Bolt. The Jamaican Olympic champion, speaking to CNN in Geneva, Switzerland, advised the young athlete to build a strong support network to navigate the distractions of rising fame.

Gout's performance not only retained his national 200-meter crown but also broke the previous under-20 world record of 19.69 seconds held by American Erriyon Knighton. It also bettered Bolt's fastest time as a teenager, 19.93 seconds from 2004 when he was 17. Earlier in the championships, Gout claimed the under-20 100-meter title in 10.21 seconds. His progression includes a wind-assisted 19.84 seconds at last year's nationals and a 20.04-second run in 2024 that marked the quickest 200-meter time by a 16-year-old.

Bolt, an eight-time Olympic gold medalist who holds the senior 200-meter world record of 19.19 seconds, drew from his own experiences to caution Gout. "At that young age, because I was there, you...