Sprint star Gout Gout clocks world-beating time as teenager eyes Usain Bolt’s record

Australian sprinter Gout Gout set the world’s quickest time over 200m for 2025, demolishing the field at the Queensland Athletics Championships on Sunday.

The 17-year-old, who set a national record over the distance in December, crossed the line in 20.05s during the under-20 heats, beating the rest of the field by more than two seconds.

His time was a marked improvement on 2025’s previous best time, the 20.13s clocked by Zimbabwe’s Makanakaishe Charamba in Texas in February, and just outside his own national record and personal best of 20.04s. It was still quicker than Peter Norman’s previous national record of 20.06s, which had stood for 56 years until the youngster came along.

Gout even broke the 20-second barrier in the under-20 200m final at the meet in Brisbane, a wind-assisted 19.98s, but the time did not count due to the illegal +3.6m/s wind at his back.

Despite the unofficial time, the Queensland native can now be called the fastest Australian over 200m in all conditions. The teenager also sealed the under-20 100m title at the meet on Saturday, running 10.38s in the final and 10.39s in his heat.

It appears the sky is the limit for Gout, who improved on Usain Bolt’s best 200m time as a 16-year-old – 20.13s – with his Australian record in December. Bolt’s fastest 200m time aged 17 was 19.93s, which Gout is steadily creeping towards.