Teenager Gout Gout set a new personal best and an Australian record with victory in the men’s 200m on his senior international debut at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava.
The 17-year-old ran a textbook race at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event in the Czech Republic, clocking 20.02 seconds in a highly anticipated first European meeting.
He crossed the line 0.17 seconds ahead of Cuban Reynier Mena while Briton Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (20.60) was third.
Gout ran a textbook race on his European debut
Gout’s previous personal best was 20.04, which he ran last December to break Olympic silver medallist Peter Norman’s national record that had stood for 56 years in 20.04.
Gout, who has drawn comparisons to Jamaican great Usain Bolt, was confirmed in April for Australia’s team for the World Championships which will be held from 13-21 September in Tokyo, Japan.
Sweden’s Olympic and world champion pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, who broke the world record for a 12th time with a clearance of 6.28m at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm this month, claimed victory with 6.13m in Ostrava.
“I felt good with the jumps, considering I felt as though I was operating on less than a full tank,” said Duplantis.
