By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australian schoolboy sprinter Gout Gout can become one of the top track athletes in history but should be not be rushed into competing with “hungry” senior rivals, Olympic 200 metres champion Letsile Tebogo said on Wednesday.
Gout, 17, has earned comparisons with Usain Bolt after eye-catching runs over the past year, including a wind-assisted 19.98 seconds in the 200 at the Queensland state championships this month.
Gout will run the 200 again at the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne on Saturday but there will be no showdown with Botswana’s Olympic champion as Tebogo eases into the season with a run in the 400.
Tebogo is nonetheless interested to see how Gout performs in the open category following his dominance in junior events.
“He can be good enough, he can be one of the best, he can be in the history books,” Tebogo told reporters at Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne on Wednesday.
“If he continues the hunger that he has right now, he could go very far.
“His progression so far, I am impressed with how he is going with his age (events) and (now) a little bit of introduction into the senior category.”
Gout, the son of migrants from war-torn South Sudan, holds the fastest 200 time (20.05) in the world this year, albeit at a time when most sprinters are not competing outdoors.
His runs have generated huge excitement in Australia and a healthy crowd is expected at Lakeside Stadium on Saturday to see him compete.
Tebogo, who upset American favourite Noah Lyles in the Olympic 200 final at Paris, said Gout’s handlers needed to be careful not to give him too much senior competition too soon.
“Just introduce him slowly to the seniors,” said the 21-year-old.
“Not every race … against the seniors because with the seniors we are all hungry to get the money, the medals and everything.
“The best advice I was told was that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
“I couldn’t get the concept at first.
“I felt like I didn’t have competition but rather (my coach) knew what he was doing, protecting me against the seniors.”
Turning to his own progression, Tebogo said his 400 run on Saturday would not be the start of a campaign to dominate the one-lap race and that he would focus on the 100 and 200 after the meet.
He said 2025 would be a “recovery season” after his Olympic breakthrough last year but he would still hope for medals at the world championships in Tokyo.
“It’s a tough one, but I believe I’ll make sure that they know they are not comfortable when I’m there,” he said.
“This is the recovery season for us, just to make sure that we are competing against them. Just making sure that we are there on the podium.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
