Australian teen Gout beats his own 200m national record
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Australian teenage sprinter Gout Gout crushed the 200 metres 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 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 0.17sec ahead of Cuban Reynier Mena while Briton Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (20.60) was third.
“I’ve felt stronger in training these last couple of months and I’ve felt good since I got to Europe last Thursday,” Gout said.
“I knew Mena would come hard at me the first 100 but I was confident I’d be close enough to come home strongly in the second part of the race which is of course my stronger part.
“I felt calm but strong as I came off the turn and was confident I’d be strong enough to get the win. Another national record! Pretty happy with that, it’s not a bad first up in Europe!”
Gout has drawn comparisons to Jamaican great Usain Bolt and he made headlines in December when he broke Peter Norman’s national record that had stood for 56 years in 20.04.
The Ipswich, Queensland, teenager was confirmed in April for Australia’s team for the World Championships in Tokyo in September.
Meanwhile 18-year-old Cameron Myers delivered a performance of a lifetime in the men’s 1500m, clocking 3:29.80 to smash his own Australian under-20 record by nearly three seconds.
Finishing fourth in the hotly contested race, the performance moves Myers to third on the Australian all-time list, just 0.39 shy of Oliver Hoare’s record of 3:29.41 set in 2023.
He said: “My fastest races the last two years have been miles. It’s a coincidence but it’s really good to have a fast 1500m and I’m really pleased to get a PB and my first time under 3:30.”
Reuters
