Just days after after warning Noah Lyles he was coming for the world and Olympic champion, teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout has achieved a mark that has eluded the US track star.
In a rare outing over 400m at the Joanna Stone Shield meet in Brisbane on Saturday, Gout clocked 46.20 seconds, almost a second under Lyles' personal best for the distance and the fastest under-18 time by an Australian for 35 years.
Gout recently returned from a Florida training camp with Lyles and the American's coach Lance Brauman.
During the training stint, the pair engaged in some spirited banter in a podcast during which Lyles welcomed Gout's declaration that he intended to upset the American, possibly as soon as this year's world championships in Tokyo.
The foundations for that campaign are being built under the watch of Gout's coach Di Sheppard.
To put Saturday's one-lap performance in perspective, the 400m world lead this season is 44.97 by Jamaica's Zandrion Barnes. At the same age, reigning Olympic 400m champion Quincy Hall posted 46.98.
At this stage there are no plans for the Queensland 100m-200m sensation to focus on the one-lap race.
"Today was just a time trial," Shepard said.
"He does one of these every year to test his speed endurance."
In December, as a 16-year-old, Gout broke the men's national 200m record when he ran 20.04 at the Australian All Schools championships.
At the same meet he harnessed an illegal tailwind to clock a world-class 10.04 in the 100m.
Gout's next outing will be at the Queensland titles in mid-March ahead of the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne on March 29.
In April he will contest the Australian championships in Perth and the storied Stawell Gift handicap race.
