How the fastest teen ever in the 200m got his start on the track

Gout's physique is unique for someone known for the 200-meter sprint; it's more befitting a runner of longer distances. He's 6 feet tall and weighs less than 150 pounds.

The teen can struggle getting off the starting blocks, but he excels at mid-race speed endurance, with an ability to sustain top speed of roughly 25 mph.

Sheppard worries about possible injury or burnout as Gout grows. Sprinters typically don't hit peak performance until their mid-20s.

"If I tried to make him super quick now I'd break him," she said.

Dylan Hicks, a movement scientist at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, recently published a paper on sprinting. He says that Gout excels at releasing the explosive energy stored in his Achilles tendons.

"And he creates the height. So we see him sort of bouncing his way down the track and using less steps than everybody else," Hicks said.

Making his mark on the track

During the Australian secondary school championships in December 2024, Gout — then 16 — turned in a time of 20.04 seconds in the 200-meter dash, clocking the fastest time in Australian history. His blistering pace that day saw him overtake a record set by another runner in — get this — the 1968 Olympics.

The teen's time also broke the world age-group record set in 2003 by Usain Bolt, the Jamaican eight-time Olympic gold medalist, who's considered the sport's greatest of all time.

"My first couple steps I had a good start. And if I have a good start, you know, it's kind of over. Because my top-end speed is great. And once I get into top-end speed, I'm flying," Gout said.

Last fall, at 17, Gout finished fourth in his semi-final heat at the Track World Championships in Tokyo. But then, just last month, Gout became the fastest teenager ever in the 200m at a race in Sydney.

He won with a 19.67 in the 200-meter sprint — a time that would have won him a bronze at the 2024 Olympics, where the runners are typically several years older than Gout.

Racing toward the Olympics

The sprinter could bolt to a medal when the 2028 Olympics arrive in Los Angeles. Four years after that, Gout will be 24 — the age when sprinters tend to really hit their stride — when the Summer Games come to his home city of Brisbane, Australia.

"It's crazy to think about how you want to run as fast as possible but you don't want to overload too much when you're a teenager because then that messes up the rest of your career," Gout said. "Like, you know, you got all the time in the world."

Despite the spotlight, Gout finished his studies at Ipswich Grammar School, where he graduated in December with Straight A's.

And, for now, he continues to train with local kids in his hometown — not exactly a world class stable.

But Gout and Sheppard believe that, right now, it's the best environment as the sprinter works toward future Olympics.

"This is what I was pretty much put onto this Earth to do, and that's what I'm doing," Gout said.