Should we be worried about Gout Gout?

March 29, 2026 — 5:58pm

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Gout Gout’s speed makes us hasty. It makes us into the kids in the back of the car, asking “are we there yet?”

No, Gout isn’t there yet. The fact he lost on Saturday night does not mean he won’t get there – it’s just that Lachie Kennedy is much closer.

The fact Gout’s loss on Saturday night to Kennedy was his second time in successive Maurie Plant Meets is no cause for concern.

We should not be worried whether Gout will live up to expectations. He lost a race narrowly to the fastest man in Australia. He lost that by 0.05 seconds and ran 20s flat in the rain in Melbourne. When you don’t run especially well and still do that, it is still a good night.

Whatever Gout does or does not do this year or into the future does not alter the irrefutable fact he has repeatedly run faster than any Australian of any age over 200 metres. And he first did it as a 16-year-old.

He went to the world championships, wedged between school terms, and in front of a packed Tokyo stadium made........

© The Age