17 year old sets fastest 200M time of the year
17-year-old Australian Gout Gout set the fastest recorded time of the year in the 200-metre event on Sunday to continue his remarkable rise in World Athletics.
Gout, of South Sudanese origin, was born in Queensland after his parents emigrated down under two years earlier, from the East African nation.
Whilst competing in the heats of the Queensland State Championships, Gout ran a world-leading time of 20.05 seconds, which is just 0.01 shy of his Australian record, as reported by CNN.
In the final, he then followed it up by becoming the first-ever Australian to break the 20-second mark with victory in 19.98 seconds.
However, the time won’t stand as an official record because of illegal wind conditions (+3.6m/s), the report added.
“Seeing the clock, I was really happy and surprised in a way, but it just felt like a weight off my shoulders. Now that I’ve done it, I’ve just got to do that more consistently.” he is quoted as saying.
The world record in the 200 metres which is 19.19 seconds is held by Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt. It was broken on 20 August 2009 in Berlin Germany.
The fastest African in the 200 metres in history is Botswana's Letsile Tebogo who clocked 19.46 in St Denis France also in August 2024.