Australian teenager Gout Gout’s star continues to rise after the 16-year-old ran the fourth-fastest under-18 100m time in history at the national All-Schools Athletics Championships in Queensland. Gout, who turns 17 at the end of December, rocketed to the line in just 10.04s to comfortably win his heat and go under the Australian under-18 record of 10.27s held by Sebastian Sultana and his own personal best of 10.29s. An illegal tailwind of 3.4 m/sec on Friday meant Sultana’s record still stood after the heats, until Gout backed up his first spectacular time by winning the final in 10.17s. Gout Gout in action at the 2024 world under-20 championships. He’s 16 and hyped as Usain Bolt’s successor – but Australia’s Gout Gout is keeping his feet on the ground Read more The Australian sprint sensation was unable to break the 10-second barrier in the final and join US athlete Erriyon Knighton’s wind-assisted 9.99s as the only under-18 dash to beat the mark. But Gout’s later time was deemed legal after the tailwind dropped and is now the sixth-fastest under-18 regular time in history. Gout’s quicker time in the heat is now the fifth-fastest in all conditions by an Australian of any age. Patrick Johnson holds the national 100m record of 9.93s set in 2003 at a meet in Japan and is the only Australian to run a legal sub-10 second 100m. SORRY WHAT?!👂 10.04? 👀 Teenage sensation #GoutGout gets the crowd roaring with a spectacular though windy 10.04 (+3.4) performance in his U18 100m Heat - the fourth fastest time in all conditions by an Australian in history. Stay tuned for the final at 2:12pm AEDT. Tune in… pic.twitter.com/Gu04xEZfWt — Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) December 6, 2024 “I’ve been chasing this national record for a while now. In the heat, I thought I got it but it was a crazy tailwind, so I just did the same thing and got the job done,” Gout said. “In January I’m going overseas to train with Noah Lyles and his coach Lance Brauman, hopefully we can qualify for the Tokyo world championships. If not, I’ll just finish my school in year 12.” The Brisbane-based sprinter also holds the Australian under-18 and under-20 records over 200m after he crossed the line in 20.29s at the Queensland All-Schools Athletics Championships last month – just 0.23s behind the national benchmark set by Peter Norman when winning silver at the 1968 Olympic Games. Usain Bolt holds the 200m world record of 19.19s set at the 2009 world championships, and ran 20.13s when aged 16. Knighton now holds the under-18 world record for running 200m in 19.84s as a 17-year-old in 2021. Gout contests the 200m event in Brisbane on Saturday. The son of South Sudanese parents, Monica and Bona, who moved to Australia in 2006 and settled in Brisbane, Gout Gout was born the following year.