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Updated July 9, 2026 — 3:59pm,first published 3:11pm
Australian sprinter Gout Gout will not compete in the under-20 world championships next month after injuring his hamstring while training in Brisbane on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old announced on social media on Thursday that he would miss the rest of 2026 after an MRI found a partial tear to his left hamstring tendon, which extended over eight centimetres.
He was due to compete in the under-20 world championships in Eugene, Oregon from August 5-9, choosing to focus on the 200m world title against his own age group instead of running at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this month.
Gout won silver in the event at the under-20 world titles two years ago as a 16-year-old, and had hoped to match Jamaican great Usain Bolt’s feat by winning gold this time around.
This year, Gout smashed his own Australian 200m record with a time of 19.67 seconds at the national championships in Sydney. It was faster than the eight-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt had run at the same age.
Gout said he was disappointed and faces several months of rehabilitation.
“I’m very disappointed but I have no other option but to accept the situation,” Gout wrote.
“I understand this is part of athletics.
“My focus now will be on my rehab in the coming weeks and months to ensure I come back in 2027 better, stronger and faster.
He did not say if the injury requires surgery, but serious tears can require surgical intervention, according to some sports injury websites, including the Sports MAP Network.
Sports MAP Network listed an injury like Gout’s as needing between eight and 16 weeks’ rehabilitation, along with a cautious return due to the high rate of recurrence.
Gout provided a medical comment in his post from his MRI, which said: “There is a partial thickness tear of the proximal intramuscular tendon of the long head biceps femoris [hamstring].
“There is a partial disruption of the tendon which involves less than 10 per cent of the cross-sectional area of the tendon but extends over 8cm in length.
“This represents a grade 3C injury according to the BAMIC [British Athletics Muscle Injury Classification].”
American Olympic gold medallist Justin Gatlin, who is one of Gout’s role models and a sometime training partner, left a supportive comment on Gout’s post.
“Let that recovery make you hungry G,” the retired four-time world champion and 2004 Athens Games 100-metre gold medallist wrote.
In a statement, Australian Athletics said the young sprint sensation needed to take his time with his recovery.
“Gout has had a phenomenal couple of years, and has a long and exciting athletics career ahead of him,” the statement said.
“While this will be disappointing for Gout himself as well as his many fans, unfortunately injuries are part of the sport, and it is important that he takes the time to rehabilitate, recover and return to the track to compete when he is ready.”
Gout’s next major global meet now might not be until the world championships in Beijing in September next year.
More to come
