‘you’ve Grown’: Gout Gout Reaches New Heights In His Bid To Emulate Bolt

Sprint sensation Gout Gout is already nan fastest Australian to person tally nan 200m, and Usain Bolt has described nan 17-year-old’s quality “like young me”. While he’s opening to drawback up pinch Bolt’s times, nan teen is besides catching up to nan towering Jamaican successful height.

Gout’s moving style has an uncanny resemblance to Bolt’s, pinch agelong strides and an upright stance supporting his expertise to scope a precocious apical speed, moreover if he continues to activity connected his starts.

There has ever been a ample quality betwixt nan pair’s heights, however. Bolt is 1.95m – aliases 6ft 5in – and had reached that people by nan property of 15. Gout has been slower to grow, but could still adhd much tallness to his gangly frame.

The twelvemonth 12 Ipswich Grammar student was measured astatine 180.3cm astatine nan extremity of past year, but arsenic he prepares to title astatine nan World Championships successful Tokyo, he is now adjacent to 183cm.

His coach Di Sheppard had noticed nan alteration earlier this twelvemonth erstwhile returning from nan Stawell Gift.

“When we sewage retired of nan car and were stepping successful nan airport, I turned astir and I felt for illustration I had to look up more. I looked astatine him and went, ‘you’ve grown’. He looked astatine maine like, ‘yeah, right’,” nan long-time inferior athletics coach said.

“I’ve ne'er been incorrect yet, moreover erstwhile mothers show maine they haven’t, I show them to spell location and measurement their kid.”

Sheppard wonders whether her prima student tin turn more, fixed his begetter Bona is still taller than him and he has unusually agelong arms.

“Gout didn’t really deed early puberty, he didn’t really commencement a maturation, probably, until astir 15 much so,” she said. “And if you look astatine Gout, erstwhile he puts his arms out, his limb span is conscionable measurement excessively large for nan remainder of him.”

Sheppard has been cautious not to overload Gout’s increasing assemblage pinch excessively overmuch spot activity excessively soon, moreover if stronger legs will yet mean faster starts.

“We’ll move into that erstwhile we tin adhd that pinch immoderate power, truthful it’s not astir really trying to unit it, because, I mean, he’s 17, and he’s still growing,” she said.

“It’s a step-by-step-by-step process, truthful erstwhile you deed 1 mark, [you say] ‘OK, we’ve sewage those, we tin get retired of nan blocks successful our first 2 steps’. We cognize his apical extremity speed’s there, but you don’t driblet that to activity connected this, you gradually amended this [his start] to lucifer that [his speed].”

Gout will make his debut for Australia’s elder nationalist squad astatine nan 2025 world championships, starting adjacent week successful Tokyo.