Aussie sprint sensation Gout Gout has been compared to Usain Bolt, but first he had to take part in a very important teenage milestone
Australia's teenage sprinting phenom Gout Gout is used to the roar of stadiums and the flash of finish-line cameras and sometimes it can be easy to forget he is still a schoolboy.
But this month, the 17-year-old track star swapped his racing spikes for polished black shoes and a sharp suit.
Gout, who attends Ipswich Grammar School, marked a major rite of passage by attending his Year 12 formal in Brisbane.
He arrived in unforgettable style at Victoria Park in a stretch pink Hummer.
Two weeks later, Gout posted a photo carousel from the big night on Instagram, and it quickly drew widespread attention.
Wearing a fitted black suit with a dark-red paisley tie and matching boutonniere, the sprinter looked every bit the star.
He was joined by his formal date Asha, who wore a red strapless gown with a matching corsage.
The couple posed for playful snaps, looking co-ordinated and confident as friends and fans cheered them on.
'I step light, but my presence heavy,' Gout captioned the post - a nod to both his lightning speed and growing public profile.
Classmates flooded the comments with fire and heart emojis.
One called it the 'hard launch we've all been waiting for,' referencing his previously private personal life.
Another simply wrote 'Double G live in the flesh.'
Among the likes were NRL stars Sam Walker and Ezra Mam, and Olympic runner Peter Bol.
Gout's journey from formal to finish line has been anything but typical.
Born in December 2007 in Ipswich, Queensland, he is the son of South Sudanese parents who migrated to Australia before his birth.
Initially drawn to soccer, Gout discovered sprinting in his early teens and never looked back. By 15, he had broken the Australian under-18 200m record.
Then came a national headline: 200m in 20.04 seconds, a new Oceanian and Australian record. In April this year, he ran a wind-assisted 9.99 seconds in the 100m, drawing comparisons to Usain Bolt.
Now coached by Diane Sheppard, Gout has signed a professional deal with Adidas.
While the formal was a personal milestone, his next chapter will unfold on a global stage.
He will make his senior debut for Australia at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The teenager will face world-class athletes in Monaco and Ostrava in the lead-up to that debut.
Those Diamond League meets are part of his preparation and experience-building phase.
Gout has already tested himself on the national stage, reaching the semi-finals at the Stawell Gift in April.
Despite the global buzz, he's still juggling schoolwork and sprint drills back home in Ipswich. He continues to study while dreaming big - of Brisbane 2032.
Gout hopes to claim double Olympic gold on home soil in the 100m and 200m.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
9 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Love Island star Anna McEvoy shares first photo of newborn son after giving birth: 'He's here'
Anna McEvoy's newborn son has made his Instagram debut. The Love Island star, 33, posted a sweet photo of her baby boy to social media on Sunday after announcing his arrival. In the short clip, Anna's newborn is wearing a grey and white onesie while sleeping. 'He is here, our greatest love ♥️ #babyboy,' she captioned the sweet post. Anna and her husband Michael Staples took to their respective Instagram stories on Saturday to announce the good news of their baby's arrival. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. The couple both shared a simple clip that revealed they were now proud parents to a baby boy. 'Baby Staples and Anna are happy and healthy,' the simple post read. 'We adore our little man. He is our everything.' The couple stopped short of announcing their precious newborn's name or sharing photos of the little one. It comes after Anna shared a cute clip on Thursday, revealing that her son would be delivered by C-section. The video showed Anna and Michael beaming broadly and hugging close as the blonde beauty showed off her baby bump in a black sports bra. She then held her hand up to the camera and the scene then cut to the pair wearing hospital scrubs. Text on the clip revealed that their son arrived on the same day. 'We are meeting our son in 30 minutes,' the caption read. 'Who is he going to look like?' The post was met with a flurry of anticipation from friends and followers with Tammy Hembrow chiming in with: 'Ah how exciting.' Another follower offered: 'This makes me so emotional! Such a surreal feeling. Happy baby day.' A third summed up the sentiment of many with: 'Good luck guys, so excited for you. Watched your pregnancy journey from the beginning, so excited to meet the little guy.' Anna revealed in November last year that she and Michael were expecting. Clips saw the happy couple looking loved up as Anna flaunted her growing baby bump. The footage began with what appeared to be throwback footage of Anna and Michael as children, before it cut to Anna and Michael sitting in their car. 'The baby is ten weeks old and 3cms tall,' the podcast host said with a bright smile. Other clips in the montage also featured sneak peeks of the lovebirds attending doctor's appointments, including an ultrasound. In March, Anna revealed revealed the details of a shock health scare that sent her to hospital. Anna shared a video to Instagram while lying in a bed at Cairns Hospital and wrote: 'Our little guy was being a rebel and stopped moving in the last 48 hours. 'The midwife told us to go to Cairns Hospital for some monitoring. After an hour of monitoring they were happy with what they saw,' she continued. 'When we left, they said "I think you have a cheeky boy". We weren't surprised. 'Ironically, he started kicking and partying when we got back to Palm Cove. Officially in the third trimester!!' Anna and Michael were married at a glamorous ceremony in Greece in 2023. The couple opted to hold their ceremony in May at the upmarket Courti Estate, described as a 'Luxury Corfu Villa' with nine bedrooms for guests. The couple were pelted with petals after they said 'I do' as the bride carried a white rose bouquet. 'Our wedding day at The Courti Estate was magical,' Anna told the Herald Sun at the time.
Daily Mail
17 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
AFL superstar Bailey Smith has secret meeting with AFL boss and football officials
Geelong star Bailey Smith reportedly met with AFL CEO Andrew Dillon, league top brass and Cats officials for a 'secret meeting' on Thursday night following the player's recent indiscretions. Dillon was joined by Geelong coach Chris Scott, CEO Steve Hocking and head of football Andrew Mackie for the meeting at Smith's home, reports Seven's Mitch Cleary. The meeting, organised by Dillon, saw the parties discuss the 24-year-old's behaviour following Smith's recent social media post which alluded to illicit drug use. Smith also copped a fine earlier in the year for 'flipping the bird' to a fan during Gather Round. Dillon and other officials reportedly didn't lecture the young footy star, rather reiterated his importance to the AFL as a role model. The meeting was of such importance that Dillon prioritised the catch-up over heading to Marvel Stadium to meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The gathering follows Smith's recent headline-grabbing controversies Meanwhile, Chris Scott expects Smith to miss just one match with his hamstring setback, but must wait to learn the full extent of Shannon Neale's ankle injury. Smith was put through a fitness test before the Cats' 9.7 (61) to 5.7 (37) win over Gold Coast at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday and was a late withdrawal. Midfield partner Max Holmes shone in his absence, tallying 40 disposals and 10 clearances, while Tyson Stengle kicked four goals in the low-scoring contest. A fourth straight victory lifted Geelong into the top four with a 9-4 record ahead of a clash with Essendon at the MCG next Saturday night. Scott said Smith had lingering hamstring tightness and a corked quadriceps out of the Cats' win over West Coast in round 12, and was not worth risking against the Suns. But he is 'very, very confident' the 24-year-old midfielder will return against the Bombers. 'He had a fitness test a few hours before the game and just didn't feel confident,' Scott said. 'Our tolerance for that sort of situation with any player, much less one like Bailey who depends so much on his running, is generally low. 'It was a pretty easy decision to pull him out, but then I'm told he went and did a 6-7km session. 'It was a situation where he was good enough to train but not good enough to play, which leads us to believe he'll be fine for next week.' Neale rolled his left ankle while contesting a boundary throw-in in the second quarter against Gold Coast and was substituted out before halftime. The 203cm key forward had kicked 14 goals in 12 appearances this season, becoming increasingly important to the Cats' attacking set-up. 'He may well have a scan and be pretty good, but there was enough doubt there that it wasn't one that they wanted him to play through,' Scott said. Stengle was the game's only multiple goal-kicker, his four goals proving the difference in a match played in difficult conditions. 'He is right up there with the best wet-weather small forwards that I've seen,' Scott said. 'He is just so clean and so clever, and for his size he's just so strong over the ball as well. 'He was a real threat all night.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Mitchell Starc makes emotional career call after Aussie cricketer's tough decision with wife
Aussie pace bowler Mitchell Starc has made the difficult decision not to return to India for the resumption of the IPL after recently escaping the region with his wife Alyssa Healy. The couple endured a heart-stopping evacuation from India in May due to escalating tensions with Pakistan. Starc has chosen not to return to the world's most popular cricket tournament, revealing that he's content with the fact he may not be asked to play in India again. 'I'm comfortable with my decision and how I felt about the whole situation and how it was handled,' Starc told The Age. 'That's why I made my decision post-that, and my focus changed to red-ball cricket for about a week prior to coming over here (to Lord's for the World Test Championship final). 'Time will tell with repercussions or how it looks with guys that didn't return. But I've had my questions and concerns leading into that game, and obviously we saw what happened, which played a part in my decision.' 'There was a little bit of that to my decision around the Champions Trophy [in Pakistan]. And then once the tournament was delayed you start to think about guys' preparation for the Test match. 'Things were handled differently for different players and different teams, the guys up in Dharamsala, the Punjab guys were part of that, and while both teams had similar experiences up there, all those guys returned for Punjab, and Jake [Fraser-McGurk] and I chose not to. 'So it was a very individual decision, and I'm happy to live with whatever comes of that.' Healy opened up on the worrying escape from India while watching her husband play in Dharamsala, in India's far north. 'It was a surreal experience,' she told the Willow Talk podcast. 'All of a sudden a couple of the light towers went out and we were just sitting there up the top waiting … we're a large group of family and extra support staff and the next minute the guy who wrangles the group of us and gets us on the bus came up and his face was white. 'He was like, "We need to go right now." Then (another) guy came out and his face was white and he grabbed one of the children and said, "We need to leave right now." 'We were like, "what's going on?" We weren't told anything. We had no idea. 'Next minute we are down being shuffled into this room which was like a holding pen. All the boys were in there. 'Faf (South African cricketer Faf du Plessis) didn't even have shoes on. We were all just waiting there looking stressed. 'I said to Mitch, "what's going on?" He said the town 60km away had just been smacked by some of the missiles so there was a complete blackout in the area. 'That's why the lights were off because the Dharamsala stadium was like a beacon at that point in time. 'All of a sudden we're crammed into vans and off we go back to the hotel. There was madness.' It was decided that the best move was to evacuate the teams the following day, but Healy said that the eleven and a half hour journey back to Dehli was also disturbing. 'We ended up going south west towards the border which was a little bit terrifying,' Healy said. 'Mitch and I have played too much Call of Duty and we're noticing all the SAM sites that were just sitting there ready to go. They're radar operated systems that shoot missiles at aircraft.
