Gout Gout has claimed another slice of sprinting history in a meteoric run in Brisbane by becoming the first Australian to run a 200m in less than 20 seconds on Sunday.
The 17-year-old prodigy had an illegal wind of +3.6 metres per second behind him en route to clocking 19.98 seconds at the Queensland athletics championships, rendering his time unofficial, but no other Australian has recorded such a fast "all conditions" run.
He demolished the field in the under-20 final of the 200m in Brisbane, finishing 2.12 seconds ahead of second place.
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Ecstatic, the Ipswich-born sensation thrust his arms in the air, beat his chest and roared as those at the venue went delirious. He then shared a warm and jubilant embrace with his coach Diane Sheppard.
Earlier on Sunday, Gout whizzed through his 200m heat in 20.05 seconds and finished more than two seconds ahead of the second-placed Zaine Leigh, who posted 22.10.
That run made Gout the fastest in the world over 200m this year with the teen superstar eclipsing the 20.13 recorded by Zimbabwe's Makanakaishe Charamba in Texas last month.
Gout Gout in action in the under-20 final of the 200m at the Queensland athletics championships. Getty
With a legal wind of +1.2 metres per second at his back in his heat, Gout again bettered what was previously the Australian open record in the 200m — the 20.06 set by Peter Norman at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
He fell just short of the new national record — the 20.04 he set in Brisbane in December.
The 20.04 recorded by Gout in December, at which point he was 16, bettered Usain Bolt's fastest time at the same age.
Jamaica's eight-time Olympic gold medallist had a personal best of 20.13 at 16 and his fastest time as a 17-year-old was 19.93.
Those in Gout's corner believe it's a matter of when, not if, that he cracks 10 seconds in the 100m and 20 seconds in the 200m.
The Gout camp is also aiming to win the sprint double — gold medals in both the 100m and 200m — at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, at which point the Adidas-sponsored sensation will be 24.
Wide World of Sports revealed this month that Gout's highly anticipated appearance at the Stawell Gift next month would be funded by the majority owner of the racehorse that won the 2015 Melbourne Cup, Prince Of Penzance.
WWOS also revealed four other top Australian sprinters — Lachlan Kennedy, Josh Azzopardi, Jack Hale and Jacob Despard — were set to race for $40,000 in the famous 120m sprint in Stawell on the Easter long weekend.
MORE TO COME.
Gout Gout in Brisbane on Sunday. Getty