'Crazy' reality dawns on Gout as US megastar hails 'amazing kid'

TOKYO: Gout Gout shared a stage with Olympic champions this week, strutting his stuff in the company of Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo at the world athletics championships in the capital of Japan.

His next competition? A Queensland school meet at Mt Gravatt in the southern suburbs of Brisbane next month. And he'll be pulling out his pencil case a few days later, ready to sit his year 12 exams.

"It definitely feels crazy [thinking about the] two sides of the same coin," Gout said after bowing out in the semi-finals of the men's 200 metres on Thursday night.

READ MORE: Gout earns Freeman comparison after run in semis

READ MORE: Aussie star Hull protests successfully after fall

READ MORE: Rashford lights up Champions League with brilliant brace

"I'm going back to high school and these people are going back to their homes, going back to their jobs.

"So it's definitely crazy."

The press pack surrounding the schoolboy, by the way, surely totalled more than a couple dozen, and journalists from all over the globe had crammed in to hear from him.

Lyles, the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 metres, was the next guy through the media zone. He arrived only a second or two after Gout had strolled off.

He was stunned by the size of the pack waiting to fire off questions.

Gout finished fourth in his heat in 20.36 seconds. It wasn't enough to nab a spot in Friday night's final, but he took stock and let it sink in that he's still only 17.

Later in the night, he sat in the stands to watch the athletics, flanked by his manager and coach. He held up his phone to take a selfie, making the peace sign as his easy smile bared his big pearly whites.

"It definitely makes you hungry, knowing that I'm just a kid right now, but knowing that I can still compete [with men] as a kid," Gout said.

"And the thing I have on them is I've got time. They may not have 15 years, but I've got 15 years."

Watch the 2025 World Athletics Championships live and free on Nine and 9Now.

Fifty-two athletes were entered in the men's 200m. Gout, at 17, was the youngest. The second-youngest was an 18-year-old from South Africa. He dropped out in the heats.

The youngest of the semi-finalists barring Gout, a pair of Jamaicans, turn 22 before the year is out.

The hottest gold-medal prospects, Tebogo and Lyles, are 22 and 28.

"I know that if I can do this at 17, I can do this at 25 as well," Gout said.

"And I'll be even better at 25, so it's definitely great to know that this week."

The two automatic qualifying spots on offer in Gout's heat were gobbled up by Jamaican Bryan Levell, who flashed through it in 19.78, and Tebogo, the reigning Olympic gold medallist in the 200m.

Gout didn't lower his national record in Tokyo — a record he's held since breaking Peter Norman's 56-year-old mark when he was still only 16 — but he's drawn widespread praise for getting as far as the semi-finals, and deservedly so.

His Tokyo campaign, his maiden senior championships in green and gold, was a golden learning opportunity.

"I'll take away everything, for sure," Gout said.

"I'll take away how to handle the pressure, how to handle right before the blocks, how to handle the call room — just everything about it, you know?"

He is a diligent student of the craft coached by Di Sheppard — the lady who spotted him dashing through the schoolyard at Ipswich Grammar School in year seven and knew she'd spotted a gem.

"All the things you wouldn't really expect about a world championships is what I'm going to take away, for sure," Gout added.

And what was the biggest eye-opener?

"The biggest eye-opener is knowing that I can compete at the young age I am against the best men in the world," he said.

Lyles, inevitably, had some words on Gout pried out of him.

Gout spent two weeks training with Lyles and the American's coach, Lance Brauman, in Florida early in the year.

"What do you make of him at 17?" one reporter asked.

"He's more talented than I was!" Lyles beamed.

"He's an amazing kid, he's got a great head on him, he's got a great team around him.

"It's going to be interesting to see how he develops ... I'd say the future looks bright."