Why Gout Gout's incredible 100m time is illegal and won't be included in record books

Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has set a new personal best time of 10.04 seconds over 100 metres - but the time unfortunately won't count towards the record books.

The 16-year-old, who has already earned comparisons to Usain Bolt, blitzed the field at the 2024 Australian All Schools Athletics Championship.

Gout moved out of the starting blocks slowly but got into the lead after 40 metres and pulled away comfortably from the rest of the competition over the remainder of the race.

The time made him the fourth fastest U18 athlete of all time, and the fifth fastest Australian of all-time.

Absolutely outrageous from Gout Gout.

10.04 at the age of 16.

Speechless.

pic.twitter.com/FYJbOzyMVz

— Daniel Hussey (@DanielHussey2) December 6, 2024

But unfortunately for the Australian, his time didn't officially count.

A sprint time is only declared legal if the race is run in a tailwind of 2.0m/s or under, but that wasn't the case in Gout's race as he ran in a tailwind of 3.4m/s.

As a result, the time is technically declared illegal and cannot be declared as an official personal best for the 16-year-old.

He did, though, run 10.17 earlier in the day - a time arguably even more impressive as it was run under a legal tailwind of 0.9m/s. Gout therefore now holds a national record for his age group over 100 metres.

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday, the 16-year-old opened up about his future ambitions in the world of athletics.

He said: "Sub-10 [seconds for the 100m] will definitely happen.

"The higher I get off the ground when I'm running, it definitely feels like I'm floating. And it feels I'm just slicing into the air. It feels like basically I'm a lightning bolt.

"I never thought I could be anyone, and now I'm on the path to being someone great so it definitely touches my heart closely. I just want to show the world what I can do."