Sprint sensation Gout Gout has clocked the equal-fastest legal 100m run by an Australian on home soil, notching 10.00 seconds (+0.9 m/s) in his first race at the distance in 2026. The performance came at the Dane Bird-Smith Shield Meet at QSAC in Brisbane on Saturday.
The 18-year-old's time matches the mark set by Lachlan Kennedy in Perth in April 2025. Kennedy and Patrick Johnson hold the fastest Australian legal times overall, with 9.98 and 9.93 seconds respectively, achieved overseas.
Gout also set an Australian under-20 record, eclipsing the 10.15 mark set by Jake Doran in 2018. With this run, he secured his first qualifying performance for this year's world under-20 championships.
The teenager opted not to compete at this year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, choosing instead to focus on the 200m at the world under-20 championships. He aims to emulate Usain Bolt, who began his career with 200m gold at the 2002 world juniors.
If successful, Gout would become the first Australian to win a sprint gold medal at the junior world championships. He burst onto the global scene in late 2024 by breaking Peter Norman's 56-year-old 200m national record, and made his world championships debut in 2025, reaching the 200m semi-finals.
