Fellow Australian sprinter Lachlan Kennedy has issued an apology after beating Gout Gout over 200m, as the teenage sensation addressed his comparisons to Usain Bolt
Lachlan Kennedy has apologised to Gout Gout for beating him in a 200-metre race at the weekend, while the 17-year-old admitted he doesn’t enjoy the Usain Bolt comparisons. Gout is an Australian sprinter who is already taking the track and field world by storm.
He ended a 56-year-old record aged just 16. The teenager broke Pete Norman’s national record for the 200m, recording a time of just 20.04 seconds at the Australian All Schools Championship in Brisbane last year.
Gout has ran with Olympian Noah Lyles recently, and also reportedly signed a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with Adidas – but he showed he is not infallible last weekend and lost to a fellow Queensland athlete.
At the Peter Norman Memorial 200m final event on Saturday, he placed second in the race and was beaten by Kennedy – who apologised to his fellow athlete afterwards following a personal best 20.26. Speaking to reporters, he said: “I just wanted to give them [the crowd] a good race.
“It wouldn’t be fun if he (Gout) just destroyed everyone. I’m sorry if it did spoil it, but what a great race, you can’t be upset with that.”
Gout admitted that this experience of losing will only spur him onto success, as he added: “People will say winning feels great, second feels bad and third feels even worse.
“So coming second is something you can experience. And it definitely puts fuel to my fire and it lights that burn.”
The Australian record-holder has been an incredible watch in athletics so far in his career, and he has even been compared to world record holder Bolt.
The eight-time Olympic gold medallist is considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time, and Gout would likely feel proud to be put at the same level as him – but he doesn’t like to address it.
Speaking to 7:30, the teenager said: “I don’t like speaking about it. To be honest, I just keep it simple. I’m still a kid, still in high school, so you can’t expect too much from me.”
Fellow Australian sprinter Patrick Johnson also commented on the Bolt comparisons, admitting that he hopes Gout focuses on himself and blocks out the outside noise. The athlete is the current holder of the fastest time ever run by an Australian over 100m at 9.93 seconds, meaning he has somewhat of a unique perspective on the situation.
Johnson said: “He is having his own expectations that he’s compared to Usain Bolt and maybe some of the best in the world, and I’m just saying, ‘be yourself mate’.
“In six years, Gout Gout is going to be 24 and there’s a lot that can happen in six years. There’s a long journey in track and field, there’s a lot of ups and downs and every race can’t be a PB, so let’s make sure we support them at every step.”
