Australian sprinter Gout Gout could solely be 17, however Olympic 200-metre champion Letsile Tebogo says the teenage sensation has the potential to be one of many biggest athletes in historical past.
Gout, broadly thought of one of many quickest children on this planet, has put collectively a collection of breathtaking instances in latest months to seize the eye of the perfect within the enterprise.
Dash legend Usain Bolt has beforehand mentioned that Gout “appears to be like like younger me” and now Tebogo, who upset Noah Lyles to win the 200m gold medal at Paris 2024, has had his say.
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“His type of working, it is top-notch,” Tebogo informed journalists forward of the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne this week.
“I imagine he will be the subsequent large factor for the continent.”
Gout broke onto the scene in 2022 when he ran the 100m in 10.57 seconds as a 14-year-old, however garnered much more consideration final 12 months when he ran 200m in 20.60 on the World Athletics U20 Championships – 0.01 seconds quicker than a 15-year-old Bolt managed in 2002.
Gout Gout has a giant future forward of him. Getty
He has continued his scorching type into this season and ran a world-leading time of 20.05 seconds within the 200m earlier this month, simply 0.01 exterior his personal Australian file which he set in December.
He then adopted it up by turning into the first-ever Australian to interrupt the 20-second barrier, working 19.98 seconds within the Queensland State Championships under-20 200m closing. Nevertheless, the time will not stand as an official file due to unlawful wind circumstances (+3.6m/s).
Gout will race once more within the 200m occasion in Melbourne this week, the place he is set to face Australia’s present quickest man, Lachie Kennedy.
{The teenager} won’t be dealing with Tebogo, although, who will as a substitute check himself within the 400m occasion.
Letsile Tebogo of Staff Botswana celebrates profitable the 200m gold medal. Getty
“He will be top-of-the-line, he will be within the historical past books,” Tebogo added, per Reuters. “If he continues the starvation that he has proper now, he might go very far.”
Tebogo has warned Gout and his staff to take issues slowly, urging them to not rush into racing on the senior tour.
“The perfect recommendation I used to be informed was that Rome wasn’t in-built a day. I could not get the idea at first,” the 21-year-old mentioned.
“Simply introduce him slowly to the seniors … as a result of with the seniors we’re all hungry to get the cash, the medals and the whole lot.”
