The emergence of Gout Gout has electrified the Australian athletics calendar which launches into the Queensland Championships this weekend, before it builds towards a once-in-a-generation showdown at the Stawell Gift next month.
The local teenager will start his finely-tuned, four-meet Australian programme this weekend in Brisbane as part of a schedule that balances experience-building under-20 races with high-profile opens contests.
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The national 200m record holder will line up in his primary event at both the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne on 29 March as well as the national championships in Western Australian in the second week of April. He ran 20.04s in December to beat Peter Norman’s mark that had stood for 56 years.
In the 100m, despite having run a wind-assisted 10.04 in December, Gout will not race for the senior Australian 100m title in Perth, preferring instead to enter the under-20 category.
It means a direct showdown with the likes of 100m sensation Lachie Kennedy – who moved to equal third on the Australian all-time list alongside Matt Shirvington with a 10.03s earlier this month – and other sprint stars such as Josh Azzopardi, Jacob Despard, Calab Law and Jack Hale may not eventuate until the Stawell Gift in late April.
Gout has spent part of the Australian summer training alongside Noah Lyles in Florida, and only competed in one 400m and one 100m last month as he prepares for the high-profile meets in coming weeks.
“Training was great in Florida and we’re confident he’s kicked on further,” his manager James Templeton said. “Gout is really looking forward to this weekend, as always he’s looking to run fast. Faster than before.”
Australia’s current crop of middle-distance runners, walkers and field athletes helped Australia to seven athletics medals in Paris, their best haul at a Games since Melbourne in 1956.
Australia also recorded its best result at an under-20 world championships in Peru last year, with 14 medals including Gout’s 200m silver.
Matt Lynch, state performance advisor at Queensland Athletics, said the next generation are set to peak around the time of the Brisbane Games. “Tuning in now, you are on the ground floor,” he said.
Kennedy, Despard, Law and Azzopardi set a new national record in the 4x100m relay at the Paris Olympics, and since then Kennedy has emerged as a legitimate threat to become just the second Australia after Patrick Johnson to break the 10s mark.
Most of Australia’s elite sprinters are expected to be drawn to the regional Victorian town of Stawell during the Easter weekend at the end of April.
Due to the national championships in Perth wrapping up the previous weekend, a larger than normal contingent of the country’s best sprinters will tackle this year’s handicapped 120m, where $40,000 in prize money is on offer on the grass.
Kennedy will compete in a relay at the Sydney Track Classic this weekend, and is set to travel to the world indoor championships in Nanjing, China to compete in the 60m event in two weeks after selection is finalised in coming days.
The 21-year-old produced a 6.43-second 60m in Canberra in January. British sprinter Jeremiah Azu won the men’s 60m at the European indoor championships on the weekend in 6.49s.
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Channel Seven will broadcast Gout’s 200m tilt at the Maurie Plant meet on 29 March, which will feature on the main channel in Sydney and Melbourne in a mark of athletics’ renewed appeal.
7plus will also screen the Sydney Track Classic – featuring Olympians Peter Bol, Peyton Craig, Abbey Caldwell and Claudia Hollingsworth in elite 800m events – as well as April’s national championship and the Stawell Gift.
Fans hoping to watch Gout this weekend at the Queensland championships must attend the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre because there is no streaming coverage provided. Gout will compete in the under-20 100m on Saturday, and the under-20 200m on Sunday.
Lynch said Gout choosing to run in his age events gives him a chance to build experience and focus on his approach and technique. “Even a couple of times last year, his coach Di Sheppard would put him in the B race at a shield [local] meet out here, just to give him an opportunity to not worry about the pressure of racing, just to go out and run.”
