Australia’s Gout Gout misses 200-meter final at World Athletics Championships

Australian teen sprinter Gout Gout, who once broke the 10-second barrier in 100-meter dash, failed to qualify for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

The teen sensation’s senior debut ended on Thursday, September 18, when he finished the 200 meters in 20.36 seconds.

The top three runners included Jamaica’s Bryan Levell, who won in 19.78 seconds, followed by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo at 19.95 and America’s Courtney Lindsey at 20.30.

Gout Gout’s best time in 200-meter is 20.02 seconds, which is a national record and he needed to beat his record to qualify for the finals. All eight runners who qualified dipped under the 20-second barrier.

The 17-year-old congratulated all the competitors and said, “It was a great experience. Achieving all this at 17 is an achievement in itself. I am happy to be here.”

Despite not making it to the finals, the sprinter said, “Being able to come out here in the semi-final and do my thing, it’s pretty incredible.”

An American sprinter criticised the Gout Gout in a TikTok video, saying, “The next Usain Bolt got brutally destroyed at the world championships.”

However, it is pertinent to note that at his Olympic debut in 2004, Bolt failed to qualify for the semifinals and Gout Gout competing in the semi-final in an achievement for him.

Bolt remains the fastest sprinter in history with a record time of 9.58 seconds in 100-meter.