Gout Gout says 100m 'too short' for him
PRAGUE: Australian teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout said Sunday he preferred 200 metres to 100 metres which is "too short" as he was bracing for his first-ever start in Europe.
The 17-year-old won the Australian Athletic Championships in April clocking 19.84 seconds on 200 metres and 9.99 seconds on 100 metres, though both with a tailwind above the limit.
He is getting ready to run 200 metres at the Golden Spike meet in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava on Tuesday in his European premiere.
"I definitely like 200 more than 100 because 100 is a bit too short for me," Gout told reporters.
"You get the start and then you're already at the finish line."
"I really like getting out and getting to my top speed and keep holding it to the finish line. So 200 is great and I love it," said Gout, who was born in Australia after his parents migrated from South Sudan.
He rose to prominence last December when he clocked the quickest 200m time ever by a 16-year-old of 20.04 sec, bettering Usain Bolt's personal best at the same age.
The lanky Gout relished being likened to Bolt whom he called "the epitome of sprinting."
"If I could be on that level and just put my little bit of style onto it. So try to be like him but also bring my little personality with me."
"Just to know that I may be on the same trajectory and just being compared to the best sprinter of all time is... definitely something I appreciate," he added.
After the Australian championships, Gout focused on training rather than competing.
"We did a lot of work... on my starts and just to get stronger overall for the Europe season," he said.
"I'm just building up my strength and just really trying to get in the gym and get to the next level for sure," Gout added.
"I'm excited to run again after a long time."
After Ostrava, Gout will compete at the Diamond League in Monaco on July 11 with eyes on the world championships in Tokyo in September.
"Obviously the world championships is the main goal and I just want to see what I can do on the world stage against professional athletes," Gout said.
"I just want to get out there and kind of prove myself." - AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
A knockout show!
Nigerian professional MMA fighter Richard Muzaan climbs the cage in celebration after defeating Burkina Faso's Ismail Mano in the African Knockout Championship lightweight title fight at the Pistis Conference Centre in Lagos on June 13. — AFP
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
How a-bout that?
A referee raises the hand of the winning wrestler at the Ecowas African Wrestling Tournament at the National Stadium in Abuja on March 7. — AFP
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Soccer-South American fans light up Club World Cup, while some venues fall flat
MIAMI/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Partying South American fans may have set the Club World Cup alight but unfortunately for hosts the United States, that carnival-like atmosphere has not swept across the country as some matches are being contested in front of modest crowds. FIFA had hoped the expanded version of the tournament featuring many of the world's top clubs would build enthusiasm for soccer in a country historically ambivalent to the beautiful game, as the U.S. prepares to co-host the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico. With some 1.5 million tickets sold only days into the tournament, a chasm remains between the "haves" and the "have-nots" of the host cities. In just two games, Boca Juniors have taken Hard Rock Stadium by storm, turning it into their own 'Bombonera' outpost, filling it with a passion unmatched at this Club World Cup. The Boca fans made up the majority of the 55,574 spectators for the game against Benfica and it was a similar story among the 63,587 supporters present for Friday's 2-1 defeat by Bayern Munich. "I've had a long career and experienced a lot. There are times I want to be a player and tonight was one of those times," Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said after the Boca game. "They (the Boca Juniors fans) are special. The crowd was hostile in the best possible way ... that's what I love about football. Many fans would pay to watch that." The atmosphere created by the Boca fans, along with the presence of Inter Miami's Lionel Messi for the opening game of the tournament and the visit of Real Madrid, has made Miami Gardens the capital of soccer in the U.S. with an average attendance of 60,626. Hard Rock Stadium, which has hosted the Super Bowl six times, has a capacity of nearly 66,000. Messi, meanwhile, was the architect of soccer history after his stunning free kick secured Inter Miami a 2-1 win over Porto on Thursday, marking the first time that a CONCACAF team had defeated a European side in an official FIFA tournament. With Botafogo pulling off a shock 1-0 win over Champions League winners Paris St Germain and Flamengo beating Chelsea 3-1, it has been a good first week for Brazilian clubs in the tournament that expanded to 32 teams from seven in the last edition. "I love when I see Botafogo, all the Brazilian teams, Argentinian teams, how they celebrate, how they are together, I love them," Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola told reporters. "I like how all the games are tight, except one or two, and people are surprised, European teams lose. Welcome to the real world. Welcome to the real world my friends." Unsurprisingly, the super-sized field has produced some lop-sided results, with Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich thrashing Auckland City, a team made up of amateur players, 10-0 in their opener. 'NOT EASY' While some host cities have had no problem getting the party started, including Los Angeles, which welcomed 80,619 to the Rose Bowl for its first match of the tournament between PSG and Atletico Madrid, others have struggled. A Tuesday match between Ulsan and Mamelodi Sundowns kicked off around 7:00 pm in Orlando in front of 3,412 fans at the 25,500-capacity Inter&Co Stadium, while a 6 p.m. match in Cincinnati on Wednesday between Pachuca and Salzburg brought in just 5,282 spectators at the 26,000-capacity TQL Stadium. "The environment was a bit strange," Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca told reporters after the Premier League team beat MLS side LAFC 2-0 in front of little more than 22,000 fans at Atlanta's 71,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium. A big challenge for organisers has been filling the stands in enormous venues more often used for United States' national addiction - NFL football - with as many as four matches per day in the group stage. While smaller, soccer-specific stadiums abound in the U.S., the Club World Cup gives organisers a chance to test out some of the venues FIFA expects to be filled to the brim at the 2026 World Cup. If FIFA was hoping that locals would snap up tickets to watch a world class soccer tournament on their doorstep, the evidence suggests it will be the travelling fans, rather than Americans, who will be scrambling to secure seats for next year's World Cup. (Reporting by Julien Pretot in Miami and Amy Tennery in New York, additional reporting by Fernando Kallas in Philadelphia and Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
