How Gout Gout captured worldwide attention for his secret Brisbane run, and where he will race next

The run was all about getting ready for the season; To step up a gear, Sheppard and Gout were targeting the Queensland Athletics Championships from 12-15 March; A move that would threaten more records in the 100m and 200m.

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Gut already holds the Australian men’s 200m record, but it’s possible he could become the first Australian man to break 10 seconds for the 100m on home soil at the Brisbane meet.

While Gout will also run the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne on March 28 and the National Championships in Sydney on April 10-12, neither of these races are suited to pacing the Brisbane heat.

A large crowd is now expected at the Queensland Championship, where the entry fee is only $6 a day and $13 on the weekend.

“He’s got a few good runs there (Queensland),” Templeton said.

The Queensland circuit was also the venue for the performances that brought Gout to public recognition. At the age of 16, he broke Peter Norman’s 200 meters record at the All Schools Championships, in a time better than Usain Bolt’s at the same age.

The world is talking about Gut again in Saturday’s secret race.

One of the first messages Templeton received after the run was from Lance Baumann, coach of reigning 100-meter Olympic champion Noah Lyles, with whom Gout trained.

“Lance texted me saying ‘the kid is coming but no surprises there,'” Templeton said.

“I’ve been on the phone all the time since he’s running. Guys from all over the world are calling and texting from the United States. People from the Sprint community and the media.”

Gout’s 10-second run coincided with Lachlan Kennedy’s run in Perth in April 2025. Kennedy then ran the 100-meter dash in 9.98 seconds in Nairobi last year. Australia’s fastest athlete over 100 meters was Patrick Johnson, who ran a legal time of 9.93 in Japan in 2003.

Gout’s run set a new Australian under-20 record, surpassing Jake Doran’s record of 10.15 set in 2018. Doran was quick to congratulate Gout on social media.

“It was only a matter of time! Proud to have someone of Gout’s caliber eclipse my goal,” Doran wrote.

Gout’s latest success confirmed that he had qualified for this year’s Under-20 World Championship, which was something of a formality.

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The now 18-year-old had already announced his plan to not compete at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, so he could instead focus on the 200 meters race at the Under-20 World Championships in Eugene Oregon, which starts three days after the Glasgow event.

Gout wants to capture the world junior title at his last opportunity, and in doing so he wants to emulate Bolt, who won 200 meters gold at the 2002 world junior race before becoming the greatest sprinter of all time.