The word of caution on Gout has been firstly about imbuing him with outsized expectations and cautioning that junior performance does not guarantee a linear path to senior achievement.
The warning is that many good juniors don’t become good seniors, which is true. What is equally true is the best seniors were also normally the best juniors. Gout is the best junior who is already challenging the best seniors.
With his first toe in the water of senior competition, Gout showed he is undaunted by the challenge.
“I definitely feel comfortable [at the level],” he said.
“I definitely think I put more expectation on myself than the whole country does on me, so I think that’s one of the things I’ve got to chill out.
“But I know that it’s got to be a superpower, for sure. Because when you can put that pressure on yourself in training and the same pressure on yourself in comp, it’s got to level out, and you do your thing in comp and in training, so it’s definitely a superpower.
“Knowing that I’ve got time on my side, I’m just going to use that and be able to do the little steps I can to make sure I grow the fundamentals, so I can do the little things right, and I can compete with the world today.”
One of those steps will be to add muscle to his lithe frame. While Gout’s young age has made him extraordinary, it is not until you see him standing in the next lane to men nearly twice his size you appreciate the physical difference and thus how outrageous his achievements have already been.
“I can definitely compete with them with a skinny frame, but getting bigger is definitely something that’s got to help me, especially in my block start.
“Knowing that I can get that strength, knowing that I can execute my race even better and get faster [is encouraging], for sure. Obviously, I am a skinny build but getting stronger is a main focus for sure, and I know when I get stronger, I can go faster.”
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He was drawn in what might be called an unenviable semi-final, pitted against five men who had all run sub-20 second personal bests, with four of them running sub-20s this year. It would be considered an unkind semi-final to have to race the reigning Olympic gold medallist Letsile Tebogo, as well as Bryan Levell, who had just beaten you in the heats.
But there are no enviable or kind semi-finals at the world championships.
“My whole mindset was going out hard and sticking with them and trying to pedal down the home straight,” Gout said.
“I definitely think I did that pretty well and just got there, did my thing, of course, and ran that bit hard, and then came home.”
It has been a stunning 12 months for Gout. It is worth remembering that until December last year, less than 10 months ago, no one had heard of the schoolboy Gout. Now he is a world figure. Initially, a figure of curiosity, he’s now a figure of utter respect as a genuine emerging talent.
At 17, he is already the biggest name in Australian Athletics, and one of the biggest names in Australian sport. When Gout ran in his heat on Wednesday night, more than 3.2 million people watched it nationally live on Nine and SBS. For context, more people watched him run than watched either of the two AFL semi-finals last Friday or Saturday nights.
The All-Schools championships in Brisbane in December last year was Gout’s coming out moment. Hitherto he had been on the athletics radar while simultaneously flying below the public’s radar. He had shown promise but had largely been shielded from wider exposure.
After All-Schools, all bets were off. As a 16-year-old, he broke Peter Norman’s national record when he ran 20.04s. He then he went to the national championships and broke the 20-second barrier. He ran 19.84s, but the wind gusted up just a little too high to make it a legally recognised time.
Still, that sub-20 run was the 10th quickest time recorded this year by any athlete in all conditions – wind or no wind. Several of those others in the top 10 are not in Tokyo because they didn’t make the US team.
After those performances, Gout’s priorities returned to actually finishing high school. He went back to Ipswich Grammar for year 12 and training. During mid-year school holidays he went to Europe where, in his first-ever serious international open age race, he ran 20.02s and broke his own national record at the Ostrava Diamond League meeting.
He then came to Tokyo and wrote an even more remarkable chapter in his story.
Torrie Lewis finishes fourth in semi, misses final
Torrie Lewis, like Gout, was pulled up in her 200m semi-final.
Four days ago, the sprinter was so cussedly disappointed with missing the women’s 100m final she feared she’d break down on TV, so dodged the cameras.
Her self-flagellation led to an unburdening of her expectations and reshaped her thinking for the longer sprint. Having made the 200m semi-finals, she decided not to put pressure on herself and consider it a free hit at the final.
“I came in with nothing to lose, really – no expectations. I already got my PB. I was just trying to beat it,” Lewis said.
“[Overall I finished with] two PBs [in each of the 100m and 200m heats], so that’s all I asked for coming in.”
Australia’s Jess Hull was still wearing her trademark smile as she’s greeted by Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin after crossing the line last in their 800-metre heat.Credit: AP
Jess Hull falls in 800 metres, but her dream isn’t over yet
Australian middle distance star Jess Hull dramatically tripped and fell in the 800m. Two nights after winning bronze in the 1500m, she was clipped and fell after the first 200 metres of the women’s 800m heats.
She was able to get up and resume running, but she was a long way from the pack and unable to make up any ground on the field, finishing last 11.5 seconds behind the field.
But her night had another twist in it yet. Hull’s protest over interference for the fall was upheld, and she advanced to semi-finals, joining compatriots Claudia Hollingsworth and Abbey Caldwell.
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