The brightest new star of Australian athletics, sprint sensation Gout Gout, is set to contest the nation's oldest footrace, the storied Stawell Gift.
Gout's manager James Templeton confirmed on Wednesday the 17-year-old had agreed to run in the 143rd edition of the 120m handicap event in April, although the contract had yet to be finalised.
Barcelona 100m Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie, former world record holder Asafa Powell and 2003 world champ Kim Collins are among the celebrated names to have contested the feature race on the famous grass track at Central Park down through the years.
None of them was able to win.
But such is the hype around Gout - who broke Peter Norman's 56-year-old Australian 200m record and clocked a wind-assisted 10.04 seconds for the 100m at the Australian All-Schools Championships in Brisbane in December - that his appearance at Stawell could be even more of a headline act.
Gout also finished second in the 200m at last year's world junior championships in Peru.
Given his recent flying times, Gout would be handed a tough mark by the Gift handicappers.
The last man - and only the second ever - to win the Gift off scratch was Australian sprinting great Josh Ross in 2005.
Gout has recently returned from a two-week training camp in the United States with Paris Olympics 100m gold medallist Noah Lyles.
He is balancing Year 12 studies this year with his burgeoning track career.
The 2025 Stawell Gift will be run on April 21 - Easter Monday - a week after the conclusion of the Australian track and field championships in Perth.
The latter event doubles as the trials for the world championships in Tokyo in September.
Only last week, Gout told Lyles he was coming for his gold medals.
"That's what I love to hear," responded American Lyles on his Beyond The Records podcast.
