Sprint sensation Gout Gout, 16, breaks U18 100m world record at SCHOOL championships – but it doesn’t count
SPRINT prodigy Gout Gout has broken the U18 100 metre world record… but it will not count.
The 16-year-old Australian sensation ran 10.04 seconds at the national All-Schools Athletics Championships in Queensland on Friday.
He destroyed the field by a huge margin and went under the U18 world record of 10.06 held jointly by American Christian Miller and Thailand’s Puripol Boonson.
However, Gout’s phenomenal performance is not a legitimate time due to an illegal tailwind of 3.4m/sec.
It is also not the fastest illegitimate U18 100m ever as American Erriyon Knighton previously ran a wind-assisted 9.99.
But it is nevertheless an astonishing performance from the youngster – who celebrates his 17th birthday on December 29.
To put Gout’s time of 10.02 into context, Usain Bolt, who holds the world record for the fastest 100m ever with a time of 9.58, had a PB of 10.03 until the age of 21.
Within months of breaking the 10-second barrier, Bolt went on to run a world record time of 9.68 to win gold at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Gout caught the eye in April 2023 when, aged just 15, he broke the Australian U18 men’s 200m record with a time of 20.87 seconds.
After the performance, he said: “It means a lot because I’ve been training so much for this. I was really nervous.
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“The gun went, and I was good and I just kept pushing. It’s like you can’t feel any ground contact, it feels like you are floating.
“This season has been mind-blowing for me. Last year I came fourth and sixth at nationals, and then I came out at All Schools and won.
“I was really motivated because I took last year personally, it always feels better when you are winning.”
In August this year, he destroyed the rest of the field at the Queensland Athletics Championships with a time of 10.20.
Gout was born in Queensland, Australia to parents from South Sudan.
His parents moved to Australia two years before he was born.