This 16-year-old Australian sprinter already looks like the next Usain Bolt

The world better prepare itself, because we might have a new Usain Bolt on the horizon. Teenage phenom Gout Gout, a 16-year-old sprinter, became the fourth-fastest runner in his nation’s history at the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships by finishing the 100m with a time of 10.04 (+3.4). Video of the race is so unbelievable it almost looks like A.I.

Granted, these are high school athletes he’s competing against — but the speed is simply mind boggling, especially considering the factors at play:

1. Gout has not yet benefitted from professional training, and has a slow start
2. He’s widely considered as a 200m specialist, with the 100 being a secondary event for him
3. HE IS 16-YEARS-OLD

To put this in context, Usain Bolt really broke onto the scene in the 100m in 2007 at the age of 21. He won the 100m at IAAF Vardinoyiannia with a time of 10.03. Now, Gout had a tailwind during his run, but we’re still talking about being only 0.01 off Bolt’s breakout run while being five years younger than the greatest sprinter of all time. In addition, his 10.03 would have been good enough to qualify for the semi-finals at thr 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Gout is from the Australian town of Ipswich, Queensland — where his family moved to from South Sudan before he was born. Now he’s already winning U20 championships around Oceania, and has yet to even begin working with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), which is the incubation program for athletes in the country.

It’s a long road from teenager to sprinting phenom, and at this point the pressure can break a lot of young athletes, but if he’s able to stick with it we could be on the verge of seeing one of the greatest runners of all time when 2028 rolls around.