Australian sprinting prodigy Gout Gout upstaged in 200m

MELBOURNE: Australian sprinting prodigy Gout Gout was upstaged Saturday by compatriot Lachlan Kennedy in a pulsating men´s 200m in Melbourne on Saturday.

Kennedy held off a fast-finishing Gout to produce a personal best time of 20.26 seconds in front of a lively 10,000-strong crowd at the Maurie Plant Meet.

The 17-year-old Gout, who was born in Australia after his parents migrated from South Sudan, finished second with 20.30 in the biggest race of his fledgling career.

The lanky youngster rose to prominence in December when he clocked the quickest time ever by a 16-year-old and then ran the fastest 200m in the world this year with 20.05 this month.

“My goal was just to hold him off and I think five more minutes he definitely would have had me,” said 21-year-old Kennedy, who won silver in the men´s 60m at last week´s World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.

Kennedy earlier fell short of becoming only the second Australian to clock under 10 seconds over 100 metres.

But his time of 10.17 was still enough to edge Sebastian Sultana (10.29) and Rohan Browning (10.30).

Gout started slowly in his first race against senior runners this season and was well behind Kennedy at the back straight before motoring towards the finish line.

“Racing is great and helps build my confidence and what I need to do,” said Gout, who has drawn comparisons with eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt.

Gout has enjoyed a meteoric rise, becoming Australia´s highest-profile track athlete and pocketing a lucrative multi-year sponsorship.

He did not have to face 200m Olympic men´s sprint champion Letsile Tebogo, who chose to compete in the 400m.

Tebogo, 21, ran a season-best time of 45.26 but finished second behind fellow Botswana runner Bayapo Ndori, who held off a late surge from Tebogo to cross in 45.14.

“Will focus on the 200m now, did what we wanted to do,” an exhausted Tebogo said.

Rising Australian runner Cameron Myers strengthened his credentials after a powerful finish to win the men´s 1500m.