Gout has earned the nickname as the potential next Usain Bolt, impressively securing silver at the recent U20 World Championships. Born in Brisbane to South Sudanese immigrants, 16-year-old Gout clocked a personal record of 20.60 seconds in the 200m at the Peru finals.
Beaten only by South African prodigy Bayanda Walaza, aged 18, with a timing of 20.54, Gout nonetheless surpassed Bolt's personal best a 20.61 second-record set shortly before he turned 16 at the 2002 competition.
Australian media carried Gout's words: "I'm feeling really relieved after a long-two weeks of being in Lima," and "I've been training, grinding and just waiting patiently for this race to happen. Now that it's done, I'm really glad and ready to get in my bed and rest up for the (4x100m) relay for tomorrow."
Concurrently, Jamaican rising star Bramwell eclipsed Bolt's Under-17s 400m world record after 22 years. The impressive athlete registered a new best of 47.26 seconds at the Carifta Games held at the Kirani James Athletics Stadium in Grenada, improving Bolt's historical speed benchmark of 47.33 seconds.
Gout's sentiments were shared by Bramwell who also conceded he had been aiming to smash the record in his race. "It's a wonderful feeling to break the record," expressed Bramwell after his triumphant run.
"Since last summer, I have been eyeing the record. It's a great feeling I could come out here and get it. I just took my mind off it and focused on the record."
Subsequent to Bramwell's record-setting dash, Bolt aired his hopes that the young stars breaking his iconic records would bring to athletics a "needed" boost of energy and personality that he feels vanished post his exit from the sport.
"After me, it kind of went down because of who I was as a person, and how big my personality was," commented Bolt. "But I think over time it will be better. I think young athletes are coming up and I see a few personalities that are needed in sport, hopefully in the upcoming years it will change."
During his storied career, Bolt clinched eight Olympic gold medals and still holds the global bests in the 100m, 200m, and the 4x100m relay.
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