Gout Gout breaks own 200m record; beats Bolt's Golden Spike debut time
Australian teenage sprinter Gout Gout has crushed the 200-metre field in his first senior race abroad, bettering his own national record by two hundredths of a second to finish in 20.02 seconds at the Ostrava Golden Spike.
The 17-year-old high school student ran a textbook race in his European debut at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event in the Czech Republic on Tuesday, crossing the line 0.17 seconds ahead of Cuban Reynier Mena, while Briton Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (20.60) was third.
'I feel good. New personal best, new national record in my first European race,' the boy from Queensland told reporters.
Gout is being compared with Usain Bolt as he beat the Jamaican icon's time at Ostrava. Bolt finished his first 200m race at the event in 20.28 in 2006, but went on to win three Olympic 200-metre golds and set a new world record of 19.19 seconds.
'I don't feel any pressure. Because as soon as I step out on that track, it's just me by myself and what I've got to do – my favourite thing, and that's to run,' Gout said of the expectations.
'So, I just go out there and run and nothing stops me from doing that … Get some more races in me and [the 20-second barrier] will drop for sure.'
Gout made headlines in December when he broke Peter Norman's national record that had stood for 56 years at 20.04.
He ran a 19.84-second 200 and 9.99 seconds in the 100m at the Australian national championships in Perth in April but a strong tailwind rendered both illegal.
Even without those two sub-20 times, he's still in the top seven all-time for Under-20s, a list that includes Bolt.
Gout was born in Ipswich, near Brisbane, in Queensland state. His parents are South Sudanese immigrants who moved to Australia in 2005.
His performances were strong enough, however, to earn him a spot on Australia's team for the World Championships in Tokyo in September.
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