Australian teenager Gout Gout must first prove himself against sprinting’s emerging talent on Wednesday if he is to secure a match-up against the running royalty tipped to dominate the men’s 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Gout’s 200m heat pits him against five semi-final contenders aged 23 or under, including three that have run quicker than him. In the traditional knockout format, only first, second and third are guaranteed a place in the next round, requiring Gout to be at or near his best to make sure his senior major debut lasts more than one race.
The field is led by Bryan Levell, who last month recorded the third quickest 200m time in the rich history of Jamaican sprinting, behind only Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. His 19.69sec into a slight headwind in Budapest elevated him into the medal conversation in Tokyo. But he has been consistent since winning Jamaica’s national title in June, including two sub 20.30sec runs in overseas meets before his breakout time in August.
With his upright, robotic style, the 21-year-old Levell shot away early in that race in Hungary, and running inside Gout on Wednesday he is expected to heap pressure on the teenager from straight out of the blocks.
Higher than Levell on the world rankings, the Zimbabwean Makanakaishe Charamba made the 200m final in Paris last year. He may have finished last that day, but the 23-year-old has taken a step forward in 2025 and now has a personal best of 19.92sec which he has run twice this year.
Israeli sprinter Blessing Afrifah is the only other one in the heat to have run sub-20sec and will be looking at Gout as a rival for a semi-final place. The 21-year-old has a PB of 19.96sec, which he ran to beat Paris Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo at the world juniors in Colombia three years ago. Afrifah has struggled to go as quickly since, but his season best of 20.31sec suggests he will be in contention to make it through.
Although Gout needs to finish in the top three to secure a direct place in the semi-finals, a quick fourth place is likely to get him through as one of the six next fastest qualifiers. A time of 20.44sec was enough to make the semis in Budapest. The slowest Gout has run over 200m this year was a 20.30sec at the Maurie Plant meet in his first race against adults.
On that chilly Melbourne night in March, Lachie Kennedy beat him to the line in front of a capacity crowd at Lakeside. Since then the teenager has run three races timed closer to 20sec, as well as one run of 19.84sec at the national titles in Perth scrubbed off due to a wind reading of 2.2m/s.
Gout’s formal personal best therefore is the 20.02sec he ran in Ostrava in June on his European debut. There he beat Czech Tomáš Němejc – who will race in lane two in Gout’s heat on Wednesday – by more than half a second.
This year the Australian has also raced another one of the competitors from his heat, South African Naeem Jack. In Monaco in July, Gout managed to run a 20.10sec despite a 1.9m/s headwind. Jack – aged just 18 and another one of the world’s emerging track stars – was no match for Gout that day, finishing third, three tenths behind the Australian.
The South African lines up outside the Australian in the heat on Wednesday night and with a PB of 20.13sec set earlier this year, will believe he has a legitimate chance at the semis. As will Ghana’s Ibrahim Fuseini, aged 22, who has already ran sub-10sec for the 100m.
Australians Calab Law and Aidan Murphy will contest other heats, but none face off against any of the big three tipped for medals in the 200m: Tebogo, and Americans Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek.
All three failed to live up to expectation in the 100m final on the weekend. Lyles claimed bronze, but Tebogo was disqualified for a false start, and Bednarek was slow out of the blocks and finished fourth.
Lyles, who has been a source of advice for Gout since the pair trained together in January, is chasing for his fourth successive world championship gold medal.
