Usain Bolt tells Gout Gout to focus on athletics
The Australian star, 18, grabbed headlines earlier this month after he retained his 200m title at his national Athletics Championships with a time of 19.67 seconds, breaking the under-20 world record
Usain Bolt has warned rising sprint superstar Gout Gout not to forget track and field as he begins his ascent to global stardom.
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The Australian star, 18, grabbed headlines earlier this month after he retained his 200m title at his national Athletics Championships with a time of 19.67 seconds, breaking the under-20 world record.
It also smashed Bolt's fastest time as a teenager (19.93), and the sprinting legend has now passed on some advice to athletics' next big thing.
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The eight-time Olympic champion urged the young Aussie, who also claimed the national Under-20 100m title, to find a good support network to keep him focused on his career as the spotlight intensifies.
"At that young age, because I was there, you start getting put left and right and then you forget track and field," the Jamaican said.
"Hopefully he has the right set of people to guide him and keep him focused on track and field because the rest of the stuff will always be there.
"But if you mess up on track and field, then it all goes away."
Gout also went under the 20-second mark at last season's Australian Athletics Championships with a wind-assisted 19.84.
In 2024, he also set the quickest 200m run by a 16-year-old when he ran 20.04.
Gout will make his Diamond League debut in the 200m in Oslo on June 10, but will miss the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to focus on the World Under-20 Championships in Oregon in August.