Few sporting debuts have arrived with as much hype, but Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout passed his first test at a major global meet by booking a place in the semi-finals of the world championships in Tokyo.
The 17-year-old handled the pressure under the bright lights of Japan’s National Stadium, powering home in a time of 20.23 seconds to grab the third qualifying place in the fifth of six heats.
He finished behind Jamaica’s Bryan Levell and Zimbabwe’s Makanakaishe Charamba, the only two athletes in the heat higher than his world ranking of 16.
Gout started slowly and was quickly caught by Levell on his inside, but found his stride and comfortably claimed third in a time two-tenths off his personal best of 20.02sec.
“The start’s obviously not my strong suit but as soon as I get into running I’m chilling,” he said.
“Everyone wasn’t up against me apart from the top two, so I just hit cruise control the last 50, last 30, and just … big Q [automatic qualifier], so that’s what I needed.”
The result sets up a tantalising test for the teenager against Olympic champion Letsile Tobogo in one of three semi-finals on Thursday. Gout will also face Levell again, whose 19.84sec was the fastest time in the heats.
Torrie Lewis also progressed to the semis in the women’s event, underlining Australia’s potential in one of the sport’s marquee events. However, Calab Law, Aidan Murphy, Mia Gross and Kristie Edwards were all eliminated in the heats. Sarah Carli’s run in the 400m hurdles also ended, after she finished seventh in her semi-final.
In the men’s javelin, Cameron McEntyre recorded a personal best throw of 83.03m to secure 11th in qualification and a place in Thursday’s final.
“I’m so happy,” the 26-year-old told SBS. “It was a long time coming for something like that, and to do it tonight, in the three throws, I couldn’t have asked for much more.”
Lewis progressed to the semi-finals in the women’s 200m, after finishing second in her heat behind the UK’s Dina Asher-Smith, with a personal best of 22.56sec.
The 20-year-old was on the verge of tears and skipped her media obligations after her elimination from the 100m in the semi-finals, but appeared to put that behind her as she finished within two tenths of the 2019 world championship gold medallist from Doha.
“I had so many high expectations coming into it, and I really thought I could make that final,” she said. “I was looking at ‘did I make that final or not’, and I didn’t, so, in my mind, it was a failure. And I knew if I had gone up to the media box, then I would have cried and I just didn’t want to cry on TV.”
Her time was the eighth fastest among all qualifiers, suggesting she will be in contention for a spot in the final when the competition continues on Thursday.
Lewis moved to the Netherlands this year to train with Laurent Meuwly alongside a group of top Dutch athletes and is in career-best form.
“I’ve been acting a lot more professional than I was [when I was living] in Brisbane, so I feel like it was just, athletic-wise, a step-up for me, and I think it’s showing.”
It was less than a quarter of a second outside Melinda Gainsford-Taylor’s national record of 22.23sec set in 1997.
American Anavia Battle was the fastest qualifier with a time of 22.07sec.
The gold medallist from 2023 in Budapest, Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, progressed comfortably with a time of 22.33sec.
