'What we've been aiming for': Teen sprint superstar Gout Gout confirmed for senior Australian debut
Teen Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has been named to make his senior international debut at September's world athletics championships.
On Wednesday, Australian Athletics (AA) unveiled an initial list of athletes selected for the Tokyo world championships set to take place from September 13-21.
Gout qualified for the world titles when he clocked 20.04 seconds in the 200 metres at the national school titles in December in Brisbane, where he broke the iconic open-age Australian record set by Peter Norman at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
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AA has now confirmed the 17-year-old Ipswich product, who was still only 16 when he broke Norman's record, will run the 200m in the Japanese capital.
Among the other high-profile athletes named on AA's initial team were Lachlan Kennedy (100m), Peter Bol (800m), Cameron Myers (1500m) and Eleanor Patterson (high jump).
Myers will also make his senior international debut, having lost out in a tough selection battle ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Gout Gout storms to victory in the open-age 200m at the 2025 Australian athletics championships. Getty
In the same announcement, three-time Paralympic gold medallist Vanessa Low (T61 long jump) was among a host of athletes named for the world para-athletics championships, taking place in New Delhi between September 26 and October 5.
"I'm super excited to be picked to run the 200 in Tokyo at the world championships," Gout said.
"That's what we've been aiming for. I'm looking forward to September being part of my first Australian senior team and looking forward to seeing what I can do against the best of the best."
Vanessa Low celebrates at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, where she won her third Paralympic gold medal in succession and broke her own long jump world record. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Among "the best of the best" will be American megastar Noah Lyles, who Gout joined in Florida for a two-week training camp in January.
Gout made a guest appearance on Lyles' Beyond the Records podcast.
"I am trying to show you what's up. I am trying to come out there with a bang," Gout told the reigning Olympic 100m gold medallist.
"Whatever I've got to do to show Noah I am coming for that spot [I will do].
"Obviously, it's a learning experience [the world championships], but deep down I'm trying to get a medal, for sure, or even make that final and be running up Noah or trying to chase Noah down, for sure."
Lyles was mightily impressed.
"That's what I love to hear," he laughed with a point of his finger at Gout.
The young superstar made his Australian debut at the world under-20 championships in Lima, Peru last August, claiming silver in the 200m.
He was only beaten by South African Bayanda Walaza, who's almost two years older.
Still only 16, he inked a deal with Adidas reportedly worth $6 million.
In an interview with Wide World of Sports ahead of this month's Australian championships, the Adidas kingpin who signed Gout explained in his own words what made the schoolboy superstar so marketable.
