The 128th Queensland Athletics Championships wrapped up on March 16, 2025, at the QSAC Main Stadium in Brisbane, and the Australian sensation, Gout Gout has yet again left a lasting impression on the track fraternity with his exploits. On the 15th, the 17-year-old won the 100m title, clocking a final time of 10.38 seconds, and on the 16th, he came for the 200m and not only did he win, he created history!

Gout was not even a second behind Bolt’s 200m record, but before that, racing in the 200m heats, the track and field star clocked a 20.05 with a wind assistance of +1.2m/s, which was not his best but enough. In the Australian All Schools Championships last December he ran 200m in 20.04 seconds, which is also the Australian national record in the 200m. Nevertheless, his 20.05 on is the fastest any athlete has run in 2025 as of March 16 and is a new world-leading men’s 200m mark across age groups, overtaking Zimbabwe’s Makanakaishe Charamba 20.13 which was set in Texas, but wait! he was not done here.

It was rarely a question that who would win the 200m in Brisbane when Gout was in the group, but the 17-year-old wasn’t just racing for the win; “He then storms to victory in the final with a wind-assisted 19.98 – breaking the 20-second barrier for the first time” told World Athletics in their tweet made on Sunday. This could have been the new record for the Aussie, something that could have brought him even closer to Bolt’s 19.19 set in the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, but wind assistance is the keyword here.

When Gout clocked the 19.98, his run was wind-assisted with tailwinds measuring at +3.6m/s. Here’s the kicker, according to the rules, the only times set with wind assistance of below +2m/s are eligible to be considered for records in athletics events. Yet the effort was not in vain, not only did he win the 200m title, he also ran faster than any Australian ever has under any condition whatsoever. Naturally, praises followed.

“If Gout Gout hadn’t already sent a thunderous message to the sprinting world, he has now at the Queensland State Championships,” this is what Australian Athletics had to say to Gout for his performance in Brisbane. The performance has sent shockwaves throughout the track and field universe, and fans have all sorts of reactions

Fans React to Gout Gout’s Run

The Australian track and field athlete is faster than Bolt when he was a teenager. Bolt clocked 20.13s when he was 16, as against Gout Gout who clocked 20.05, not accounting for wind assistance. There have been enough conversations on this topic, but the question remains, is Gout Gout coming for Bolt? We are not even talking teenage Usain Bolt now, we are talking about the legendary track and field sensation who in 2009, set an almost unfathomable 200m record of 19.19s. Well, one fan thinks it’s not long before Bolt is dethroned by this kid from Australia! “@usainbolt?? World records about to fall“. He is not the only one to believe that Gout’s just really fast though!

“This kid has dynamite in his legs. Whooosh“, commented yet another fan and we dare to agree. The rate at which Gout Gout is going, maybe the right comparison is with a dynamite. Yet another chimed with an interesting metaphor, “Some of these teenagers are pumping brakes and leaving smoke on the tracks. Walaza and Gout are cooking!!” Bayanda Walaza is a South African track and field star who won silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Another added yet another Walaza-related input, just not as positive.

“Walaza ran 9.99 without wind assistance… All Gout Gout’s fast times in Australia are wind aided… Why?” Not everyone is blindly hopping on to the Gout Gout train for sure. The wind assistance is a major issue in this regard. Echoing similar feelings, another commenter pointed out a shortcoming in the World Athletics tweet “The wind was a +3.6 why didn’t you put that number in the tweet . All the other numbers were there”. The user put forward a very fundamental question for the World Athletics that perhaps, many had already grappled with. But everything aside, there was one comment which is surely to motivate the 17-year-old to become the best version of himself!

“Olympic gold incoming!“. That’s every athlete’s dream right? An Olympic gold embodies the aspirations of any track sensation. At the rate at which Gout Gout is going, an Olympic gold does not sound far-fetched at all. We might see Gout in LA28; what do you think?