Gout Gout’s blistering 200m time at the Australian Athletics championships on Sunday has raised eyebrows, with Olympic champion Justin Gatlin raising questions about its legitimacy.
The 18-year-old ran a sizzling 19.76sec, shattering his own national record of 20.02. The time is 0.26 seconds faster than Usain Bolt ran at the same age — the iconic Jamaican clocking 19.93 in 2004.
It is the 16th fastest time by any man in history, and Gout set a Under-20 world record in the process — Erriyon Knight ran 19.49 as a teenager but the American is currently serving a four-year doping ban.
It wasn’t just Gout who impressed in the 200m final at Sydney Olympic Park, with Aidan Murphy cracking the 20-second barrier in a time of 19.88sec that would have beaten Gout’s previous national record.
Calab Law was third in 20.21sec, beating his personal best by 0.21sec.
Murphy obliterated his previous personal best of 20.41sec, while the top seven runners ran a personal best and the first five finishers all lowered their best times by more than two tenths of a second.
“I’ve been sitting on that (PB) for four years,” Murphy said.
“What a moment, to be able to break that after such a long time at an Australian national championships, I can’t believe it.
“I came out of the bend and I felt him (Gout) there. I tried to use him to try and get to that next level which I hadn’t done in previous years. I felt like I hit it today.”
Gout said it was a relief to hit his goal time in legal conditions after being cruelled by illegal winds in several races in recent years.
‘I guess you could say it’s a big weight off my shoulders knowing I ran that legally and have the speed and my body to run times like that,” said the teenager, who declared he had “more in the tank.
“It definitely feels great and I’m ready for more. I thought today was going to be one of the worst conditions but as soon as I saw the sun out, I knew all I needed was the right conditions.
“I wrote down 19.75 for the past week; I have been telling myself that I would be running 19.75 and obviously I got 19.67, you’ve got to love it.
“I’ve been chasing this ever since I got that illegal sub-20. It has been on my mind this whole year, these past few months, and now I’ve got it for sure.”
However, there has been plenty of scepticism about the conditions for Sunday’s run in Sydney, held at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre, where the track was recently resurfaced for the first time in a decade.
The swirling diagonal breeze in Sydney gave the 200m runners a kick off the bend, one that wasn’t deemed to be an illegal tailwind.
In athletics, a legal wind for sprinting and jumping events is a tailwind that does not exceed an average speed of +2.0 meters per second. The wind is measured using an anemometer or a wind gauge. Gout’s time was 19.67 with the wind measured at a legal +1.7.
He ran the second half of the race in an astonishing split of 9.23sec, and his coach Di Sheppard quipped: “He came around the bend and I was like, ‘You better move your arse’.”
But former sprinter Gatlin, who won five Olympic medals including one gold, is refusing to hype up the teenager until he performs outside Australia.
The American said: “You’ve got to do it outside of Australia. Show us you can do it outside Australia. That’s the thing.
“You can run fast in comfort, everyone can run fast in comfort. But can you run fast in discomfort? That’s where it’s at. That’s going to be a challenge for him because he’s so used to running in Australia.
“So when he does I’ll be like ‘Gout Gout’s in the building y’all, better watch out’.”
Meanwhile, athletics sports writer Jonathan Gault wrote: “Have to wonder a bit about the times in the Australian 200m final. The top seven all ran personal bests — and the top 5 all PR’d by .20 or more.”
Sports analysis page Insight Lane posted: “Don’t want to take away from the Gout run. Stupendous.
“However not sure if we can quite compare times to medal times at major champs.
“Today 7/8 runners ran a PB. Murphy took 0.53 off his PB and ran easily under a previous 56yo Australian record. Seems like unicorn conditions.”
Former US college sprinter and noted Gout hater Erin Brown, renowned for his cynical takes on social media, posted: “So everyone in this fake ass race runs a half second (quicker) than they have all season lmfaooooo.
“Would’ve had me until I (sic) Aidan Murphy 20.4 pb go 19.8 lmfaooo! Australia remains home of the fake times!”
“This sh*t is clearly fake. This is as fake as it comes. Everybody in the race runs a half-second faster than they ever ran.
“But the race is real and the time is real. Australia continues producing some of the fakest marks that we ever see and y’all gas that sh*t up every time.
“Then these people go get their ass stepped on, on the road. Then months later I come with the ‘I told you so. But y’all gonna say I’m hating right now.”
The distinctive new blue track surface at Olympic Park was unveiled this month, made by Polytan’s Rekortan G-13 gel system, described as one of the most advanced athletic surfaces in the world.
“It contains 84 per cent of rapidly renewable bio-based materials and it gives the surface better force reduction and better energy return,” Polytan general manager Anthony Kelly said.
“So that means better welfare for the athletes and hopefully better times in competition.”
Sport journalist HER WAY wrote on X: “From speaking to a number of athletes on the weekend, the runners loved the new surface at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre, while its tougher for wheelchair athletes.
“Walking on it myself, it definitely has a slight spongy feel to it which I guess helps the athletes?”
Gout’s electric time would have secured him a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, his time edging out American sensation Noah Lyles who crossed in 19.70.
In an even more staggering illumination of his feat, his time would have won a medal in the 200m at every Olympic Games ever contested.
Despite being a medal contender against sprinters from Jamaica and Botswana, Gout will not compete at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, instead focusing on the World Junior Athletics championships in Oregon.
It was a banner weekend for Australian athletics at the national titles, with Lachlan Kennedy cracking the 10-second barrier in the 100m sprint twice within 24 hours.
Middle distance teen sensation Cameron Myers was another standout performer, blowing away the field in the 1500m in a fast time of 3:29.85, just half a second off Ollie Hoare’s national record.
