Gout Gout declares he’s faster, stronger and ‘ready to rock’ against Lachie Kennedy in the 200m
Lachie Kennedy didn’t stop the Gout craze, but he did stop the Gout disease. Sprinter crashed the Gout party by beating him at the Maurie Plant event in Melbourne last year.
Losing to Kennedy at the biggest track and field meet in the country is one thing, but it would be a pattern if it happened two years in a row in Gout’s pet 200 meters. And it’s an unwelcome situation, at least for Gut.
“We’re good friends, but I’m excited to get back. This is our second race after last year, so I’m excited to go again. It’ll be a good race, me and him,” Gout said ahead of Saturday night’s Maurie Factory Meet at Lakeside Stadium.
“It feels like a great rivalry to me, knowing that our two best sprinters in Australia are competing against each other in one of the biggest meets in Australia. It’s absolutely fantastic.”
“I’m 100 percent stronger than last year, and as you can see from my 10th performance, my start was much quicker. [seconds] I’ll sleep in my season opener [for the 100m] So it’s definitely gotten a lot better and I can’t wait to see it.”
Last year Gout was in the new spotlight as a school-age phenomenon, but now he’s back as an 18-year-old; no longer a schoolboy but an athlete who held his own against the world’s fastest men when he reached the semi-finals of last year’s world championships in Tokyo.
Over the past year, he has been under pressure to back up his record-breaking All-School runs and prove they were no fluke. He did this. He now carries a different kind of pressure as the biggest name admired not only by Australian athletics but also by the rest of the world.
“There’s definitely some pressure there, but knowing myself, I love running and I just have to do my best and go out there and knowing that it’s a new year, a new race and a new competition. So get out there, keep an open mind and still push towards that win,” he said.
After a promising 10 seconds in the 100m in the opening race of the season at a minor Queensland event, she decided to go for serious record breaking at the Queensland State Championships a week ago. He caught a cold the next week, which put a damper on his idea of doing anything special.
“Everything is fine, everything is healthy. I’m ready to rock and roll, I feel good,” he said in Albert Park on Thursday.
By the way, one of the questions of the night is not who will be on the track, but who will not be.
Jessica Hull, who won the silver and bronze medals in the world indoor 3000 meters and 1500 meters in Poland a week ago, chose not to compete in Melbourne, but Briton Georgia Hunter Bell, who beat her and won gold, will compete.
Hunter Bell and a group of Australian athletes boarded straight from the world’s indoor venues to take part in Australia’s biggest domestic meet. However, Hull reportedly opted not to be in Melbourne due to frustration over a perceived lack of support from Athletics Australia.
“Jess is always on the road to be honest [and] he’s always racing. She’s probably one of the hardest working people in athletics, so she probably wants a week off before she has to come back and do it again, and obviously she’s already done a double at the world championships. So it’s fair enough for him to ask for a week of no racing,” Hunter Bell said.
“He’s really set the bar over the last few years. [Kenyan champion] Faith is showing Kipyegon and the rest of the field that we need to do the same, and now I think this is going to be a really interesting year in 1500 because we know Faith will be featured a little bit less. “I think it potentially does some of the longer work and that makes it a little more exciting for us.”
Meanwhile, Olympic pole vault champion Nina Kennedy will return to serious competition at the Maurie Plant Meet.
After a year devastated by injury and surgery, Kennedy said he felt ready to participate in the event after his recovery.
Kennedy tore his body apart to make it to the world championship last year, but was injured again.
“I raced on the track at the Perth classic, it was a bronze meet and I dipped my toe in the water but I can’t hide from anything here,” he said.
Kennedy said 2005 “was really, really tough.” I thought it was going to be huge and I just wanted to get that ball rolling and jump higher and do some really cool things, so it definitely humbled me and got me back to the starting line.
“Something tells me I’m going to be a better athlete for this. I’m jumping really high. I broke my personal record at the Perth Track Classic and things are moving in the right direction.”
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Michael Gleeson is an award-winning senior sports writer specializing in AFL and athletics.Connect with: X or email.
