Gout Gout has taken a harsh lesson about life at the very top of global sprinting as the teenage sensation found the going far too hot on his Diamond League debut at the famed Bislett Games meeting in Oslo.
Having looked forward to making his bow against the ‘big boys’ on Wednesday night (Thursday morning AEST), the 18-year-old Queenslander was swept aside on a cool, windy evening in the Norwegian capital, finishing only sixth in 20.60 seconds in the 200 metres, nowhere near his world-leading best time of 19.67.
On race eve, Gout had talked of how it was Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo, not Usain Bolt, who’d been his sprint idol growing up.
Well, the 23-year-old master Tebogo gave the apprentice a bit of a lesson in the lane outside Gout on Wednesday as the Botswanan champion raced to victory in 19.84sec, a superb performance on a cool evening and on what’s not considered the quickest of tracks.
Gout had looked a little ungainly with his slow start from the blocks and was well down by the time they all hit the bend, and his trademark late charge never really made inroads against a world-class field, with South African Sinesipho Dambile (20.12) second and Trinidad’s Jereem Richards (20.50) third.
All three podium finishers were 19.80sec half-lap sprinters, so there was hardly any disgrace in being beaten by them, nor by fourth-placed Cuban Reynier Mena (20.53) and fifth-place Swiss Timothé Mumenthaler (20.58).
Gout Gout got a rude awakening in his first Diamond League race, finishing sixth in the 200m against some of the world’s best runners
The Aussie (third from right) struggled to get out of the blocks and never recovered
The teenager’s time of 20.60 seconds was nowhere near his world-leading best of 19.67
‘This is my very first Diamond League and I thank God for this wonderful opportunity,’ Gout said after the race.
‘Tebogo is a great athlete. I’ve looked up to him for a long time and he deserved the win today.
‘There’s definitely a lot more room for me to improve, but I have plenty of time on my side.
‘There’s always pressure on me but all I do is try my best and keep focusing on just having fun.’Â
Meanwhile, Kurtis Marschall continued his dream week with a second-straight pole vault triumph.
In his 31st Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on Sunday, Adelaide’s double Commonwealth champion could hardly believe he had become the first man in nearly three years to beat the great Armand Duplantis in a competition, saying his ‘stars aligned at last’.
And the stars were with the 29-year-old Marschall again on Wednesday – without Duplantis in the field as the Swede prepares for his wedding – as he soared over 5.82m, vaulting 10cm higher than four others.
