Brisbane, Australia: Teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout narrowly missed breaking the 10-second barrier but still powered to victory in the men’s under-20 100 metres at the Australian junior championships in Brisbane on Saturday.
The 18-year-old clocked 10.21 seconds with a legal +0.5 metres-per-second tailwind, recovering from a slow start to surge clear of Zavier Peacock (10.35) and Uwezo Lubenda (10.37).
Gout, who posted 10.19 in the heats and 10.44 in the semi-finals, secured his second successive national under-20 100m title despite falling short of his goal of dipping under 10 seconds.
“My family is here somewhere so I was waving to them, my friends and a couple of the fans,” Gout said. “I didn’t have the best start… I came out for the win pretty much and put on a show for the people watching.”
The victory came less than a week after he delivered a landmark performance at the senior national championships, running 19.67 seconds in the 200 metres to become the first Australian to break the 20-second barrier.
Gout has previously run a personal best of 10.00 seconds in the 100m and recorded a wind-assisted 9.99 in Perth.
“Time will tell obviously but I am pretty sure that is coming soon,” he said of breaking the 10-second mark. “I don’t feel pressure too much but pressure comes with the territory… the more pressure, the faster you run.”
His time on Saturday remained well outside the national record of 9.93 set by Patrick Johnson in 2003, and the 9.96 recorded twice by Lachlan Kennedy at the senior championships earlier this month.
