​BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Gout Gout announced that he must withdraw from the world junior championships after injuring his left hamstring during a training session, a setback that removes one of track and field’s brightest young talents from next month’s meet. In a post on Instagram on Thursday, the 18-year-old Australian sprinter said, “Unfortunately I suffered an injury to my left hamstring last night at training in Brisbane. I received this morning the MRI report, unfortunately the news is not good and I will not be able to compete in Eugene.” He stressed that his immediate focus would be on rehabilitation for the hamstring tear and expressed determination to return in 2027 stronger and faster. “I have no other possibility but to accept this situation. I understand this is part of athletics,” he added.
Gout has already spent time training alongside Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles and has set an international record faster than Usain Bolt could manage at the Under-20 level. He was widely favored to secure gold at the world junior championships scheduled for Aug. 5-9 in Eugene, Oregon. He was slated to compete in the 200 meters, an event in which he already holds the Under-20 world record, and he was also a member of Australia’s 4×400 relay squad.
The breakout on the international athletics scene came while Gout was still a high school student. He shattered Australia’s open 200-meter record for a 16-year-old by clocking 20.06 seconds in 2024, the fastest time ever recorded by a teenager at that distance in the country. In April, he claimed the Australian title with a 19.67-second effort, shaving 0.02 off Erriyon Knighton’s Under-20 world mark of 19.69 seconds set at Eugene in 2022. That performance marked the first time Gout had officially dipped under the 20-second barrier, following a wind-assisted 19.84 last season. The Sydney performance also outpaced Usain Bolt’s 2004 time of 19.93, a mark Bolt set when he was 17 and which remained unmatched by him as a teenager.
Athletics Australia emphasized that it was crucial for Gout to take the necessary time to rehabilitate, recover, and then return to competition. The federation noted that Gout has enjoyed an extraordinary run over the past couple of years and has a long and promising athletics career ahead of him. The organization’s statement reflected a shared optimism that, with proper care and dedication, he would come back to elite form and continue to be a central figure in Australian sprinting for years to come.