Teen sensation Gout Gout falls short of world champs final; Hull suffers heartbreaking fall

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Tokyo: Gout Gout finally found his level. It is likely to be a temporary level, a mere staging post for the prodigious talent but, for now, world championships semi-finalist is a handsome place to be.

The Ipswich 17-year-old did not make the world championships final in Tokyo, so he’s not in the fastest eight men in the world.

Gout Gout finished a gallant fourth in his semi-final.

He did not make history, sorry, more history, by becoming the first junior to make the 200m final.

He was stopped in the semi-finals, finishing fourth in his semi in the wet in a time of 20.36 seconds – finishing as the 18th quickest overall as Noah Lyles scorched the field with a 19.51 – but even this was beyond expectations.

The word of caution on Gout has been firstly about imbuing him with outsized expectations and then cautioning that junior performance did not guarantee a linear path to senior achievement.

Gout Gout added to his legend on Wednesday night.

The warning is that many good juniors don’t become good seniors, which is true. What is equally true is the best seniors were also normally the best juniors. Gout is the best junior who is already challenging the best seniors.

With his first toe in the water of senior competition, Gout showed he is undaunted by the challenge.

He was drawn in what might be called an unenviable semi-final, pitted against five men who had all run sub-20 second personal bests, with four of them running sub-20s this year. It would be considered an unkind semi-final to have to race the reigning Olympic gold medallist Letsile Tebogo, as well as Bryan Levell, who had just beaten you in the heats.

But there are no enviable or kind semi-finals at the world championships.

It has been a stunning 12 months for Gout. It is worth remembering that until December last year, just 10 months ago no one had heard of the schoolboy Gout. Now he is a world figure. Initially, a figure of curiosity, he’s now a figure of utter respect as a genuine emerging talent.

At 17, he is already the biggest name in Australian Athletics, and one of the biggest names in Australian sport. When Gout ran in his heat on Wednesday night more than 3.2 million people watched it nationally live on Nine and SBS. For context, more people watched him run than watched either of the two AFL semi-finals last Friday or Saturday nights.

The All-Schools championships in Brisbane in December last year was Gout’s coming out moment. Hitherto he had been on the athletics radar while simultaneously flying below the public’s radar. He had shown promise but had largely been shielded from wider exposure.

After All-Schools all bets were off. As a 16-year-old he broke Peter Norman’s national record when he ran 20.04s. He then he went to the national championships and broke the 20-second barrier. He ran 19.84s, but the wind gusted up just a little too high to make it a legally recognised time.

Still, that sub-20 run was the 10th quickest time recorded this year by any athlete in all conditions - wind or no wind. Several of those others in the top 10 are not in Tokyo because they didn’t make the US team.

After those performances Gout’s priorities returned to actually finishing high school. He went back to Ipswich Grammar for year 12 and training. During mid-year school holidays he went to Europe where, in his first-ever serious international open age race, he ran 20.02s and broke his own national record at the Ostrava Diamond League meeting.

He then came to Tokyo and wrote an event more remarkable story.

Australia’s Jess Hull was still wearing her trademark smile as she’s greeted by Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin after crossing the line last in their 800-metre heat.

Aussie star Jess Hull stumbles and falls in 800 metres

Australian middle distance star Jess Hull dramatically tripped and fell in the 800m.

Two nights after winning bronze in the 1500m, Hull was clipped and fell after the first 200 metres of the women’s 800m heats.

Hull was able to get up and resume running, but she was a long way from the pack and unable to make up any ground on the field, finishing last 11.5 seconds behind the field.

Earlier Claudia Hollingsworth and Abbey Caldwell both advanced to the semi-finals.

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