TOKYO, JAPAN – SEPTEMBER 17: Gout Gout of Team Australia competes during the Men’s 200 Metres Heats on day five of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 at National Stadium on September 17, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
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Gout Gout is on to the semifinals.
The Australian 17-year-old, who’s competing in his first World Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week in Tokyo at National Stadium, solidified his spot in the next round of the men’s 200 meters with his time of 20.23 seconds on Wednesday.
Gout Gout held his own in the fifth of six heats, finishing third to Makanakaishe Charamba and Bryan Levell, the Jamaican floating to the line in 19.84 seconds. Managing the curve from lane eight, Gout Gout flourished over the final meters.
What’s Ahead For The Australian Gout Gout
Larger, though, is the emergence of the teenager, who has dazzled with promise over the last year, clocking multiple wind-aided 200-meter times under 20 seconds, along with several wind-aided marks under 10 seconds in the 100. He has been reminiscent, at times, of the world record-holder Usain Bolt, even running faster than the Jamaican legend as a 16-year-old (Bolt was even in the stadium on Wednesday).
Gout Gout, who is the youngest athlete in the 200-meter field, is no finished product just yet. But he’s showcasing enough talent – and verified it with his performance on Wednesday – that he’s giving hope that a new era of superstars is fast-coming on the track.
This week marks the senior international debut for the Australian, who is already the Oceania record-holder in the 200 meters. The governing body of track and field for Australia, Australian Athletics, selected the teenager for his international debut.
Gout Gout Makes His Senior Debut At Worlds
TOKYO, JAPAN – SEPTEMBER 17: Gout Gout of Team Australia competes during the Men’s 200 Metres Heats on day five of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 at National Stadium on September 17, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
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Gout Gout’s moment in the first round was his first in a major setting. Two months ago, the teenager appeared in an under-23 event at the Monaco Diamond League, securing a performance of 20.10 seconds. A few weeks earlier, he secured a career-best 20.02, which secured his World Championship standard and officially ushered a new standard for Australian sprinters at the distance.
Across 2025, Gout Gout, who is of Sudanese heritage but grew up in Queensland, has shown an ability to dominate the domestic scene in Australia. He won the national 200-meter championships in April with a wind-aided time of 19.84 seconds. Three days earlier came a win in the country’s under-20 edition of the 100 meters in a wind-aided 9.9.
Gout Gout’s season has been long. Ushering his start in February, the Australian is striving to prolong a seven-month season.
He’ll return to the track on Thursday.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/corymull/2025/09/17/australian-teenager-gout-gout-reaches-world-championship-semifinals-in-200m/
