Gout Gout: Australian sprint sensation and rival Lachie Kennedy in bid for 100m 10-second barrier in Perth
Australia’s smiling sprint assassin Gout Gout — the young man tipped to become one of the fastest in the world — will begin his assault on Perth on Thursday night.
The 17-year-old track sensation launches his campaign at the Australian Athletics Championships with the heats of the under-20 100 metres.
Gout Gout is one of the biggest emerging celebrities of Australian sport. At just 17 he boasts 160,000 followers on Instagram and was last week the feature of Channel 7’s spotlight.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.His arrival in Perth puts the city and this year’s national champs at the centre of athletics’ new dawn in Australia.
And Gout’s rivalry with Lachie Kennedy — while they won’t race head-to-head across 100m at this tournament — will have the rapid-quick pair chasing the elusive 10-second mark.
That mark is the holy grail for sprinters. The most recent Australian to break it was Rohan Browning and both Gout and Kennedy are now chasing it.
It means this Perth meet could become a historic one in Australian sport.
World Indoor 60m silver medallist Kennedy put his name up in lights by beating Gout last month in the men’s 200m at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne.
They will stare each other down again in Sunday night’s 200m final.
The current Australian men’s record is 9.93 seconds, which was set by Patrick Johnson in Mito, Japan in 2003.
“I’m aiming for a sub-10 time for sure,” Kennedy said.
“In one of the rounds, I’ll do it and then I want to try and break the Australian record in the 100m and I really want to go for 19 seconds in the 200m.
“I think that’s more than possible, it’ll just be how my body can handle the rounds.”
Gout broke Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Australian 200m record late last year when he clocked in at 20.04 seconds - a time faster than what Bolt ran at the same age (20.13 seconds).
Kennedy posted a personal best of 20.26 seconds in the 200m when he beat Gout in Melbourne.
So can Kennedy get the better of Gout in the 200m for the second time in a row when they lock horns on Sunday?
“I’m confident I can win the double,” Kennedy said.
“I mean, Gout is obviously incredible. He’s the Australian record at 17 years old for a reason, it’s nuts. But that’s not going to stop me running with confidence now.”
Other sprint stars who will compete in Perth include Rohan Browning, who is the second fastest Australian ever in the 100m with 10.01 at Tokyo Olympics, 19-year-old defending national 100m champion Sebastian Sultana and Paris Olympian Josh Azzopardi.
