Gout Gout is a 17-year-old schoolboy from the Queensland suburb of Ipswich; Noah Lyles is a decade older, is an Olympic and world champion, hails from Florida, one of the most populated states of the US, and is one of the greatest showmen in world sport.
But with not a hint of bashfulness, Gout looked Lyles in the eyes and told him he'd be coming for his crown.
"I am trying to show you what's up. I am trying to come out there with a bang," Gout said seven months out from the Tokyo world athletics championships.
Sporting shiny bling hanging from his neck and diamond studs in his ears, Gout strutted into a Florida studio for an episode of the Beyond the Records podcast, co-hosted by Lyles and two other American track and field stars, Grant Holloway and Rai Benjamin.
In January, Gout spent two weeks in Clermont, a city in Florida, training with Lyles and the US champion's coach, Lance Brauman.
Australian teen sprinting prodigy Gout Gout. Getty
It was an opportunity made possible by Adidas, the global sportswear giant that sponsors both Lyles and Gout, as well as a long-time friendship between Gout's manager, James Templeton, and Brauman.
Gout was joined at the camp by Templeton, his coach Diane Sheppard, and his training partner Jonathan Kasiano.
When Gout told Lyles on the podcast he'd be coming to dethrone him, a beaming grin appeared on the American's face.
"That's what I love to hear," Lyles laughed with a point of his finger at Gout.
Noah Lyles celebrates winning 100m gold at the Paris Olympics. Getty Images
"Whatever I've got to do to show Noah I am coming for that spot [I will do]," Gout added.
"Obviously, it's a learning experience [the world championships], but deep down I'm trying to get a medal, for sure, or even make that final and be running up Noah or trying to chase Noah down, for sure."
Lyles urged Gout to megaphone his ambitions.
"I want you to come up to me and say, 'Yeah, I am going to take your spot'," Lyles said on the podcast, which will drop in full later this week.
"Because if I hear somebody [who] is like, 'Well maybe one day …' No! It's not one day; it's going to be today, and if it's not today it's the next day. And I'll be here every step of the way.
"Like come on, don't be scared to tell me your dreams. Shout it from the top of the mountains. Come after me."
Not for the first time, Gout went viral globally after clocking 20.04 seconds for 200 metres in December.
The time posted by the tall, lean and freakishly talented sprinter broke the Australian 200m record belonging to the iconic Peter Norman, who had clocked 20.06 at the Mexico City Olympics of 1968.
The then 16-year-old Gout's 20.04 also eclipsed the 20.13 recorded by the greatest sprinter of all time, Jamaican legend Usain Bolt, at the age of 16.
The breathtaking run qualified Gout for the world championships, set to be hosted by Tokyo from September 13-21.
At the same December meet, the Australian all schools championships in Brisbane, Gout blazed through a 100m race in 10.04 seconds, albeit with too strong a wind at his back for it count.
He represented Australia at the world under-20 championships in Peru last August, where he was beaten to gold by a South African who's almost two years older, but picked up silver.
At September's Tokyo world championships, the Ipswich-born sensation will for the first time represent Australia as a senior athlete.
Gout will next race at the Queensland championships, to be held in Brisbane from March 13-16.
