One of Australian sport's most famous records has fallen, with Gout Gout breaking Peter Norman's 200m national record at the Australian All Schools Championships in Brisbane.
At just 16, the Queenslander of South Sudanese heritage reinforced his standing as one of the world's most exciting sprinters with a jaw-dropping 20.04 seconds on Saturday.
The number at the forefront of everyone's minds was Norman's national record 20.06, set at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics when
The world watched, and Gout, who has been compared to champion Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt at the same age, revelled in all the hype.
"I've been getting pressure. My video went viral right before world juniors," Gout said on Saturday.
"You know what they say, pressure makes diamonds. I'm better than a diamond right now."
Before Saturday's incredible run, Gout already had the under-16, under-18 and under-20 national records in his keeping.
Now that he has the open standard, greater goals such as a world-class sub-20 seconds for the 200m and sub-10 seconds for the 100m are on his mind.
"It's definitely great. I've been chasing that record," Gout said.
"It's pretty crazy. Right now I can't process it, but tonight when I go to bed and think about it it will be pretty crazy for sure.
"These are adult times and me, just a kid, I'm running them, so it's definitely going to be a great future for sure."
Gout, who turns 17 at the end of the month, will travel to the US in January to train with Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles.
Age group records are one thing, but his bar is now higher, and he has set his sights on qualifying for next year's world championships in Tokyo and, beyond that, Olympic gold.
"When I was younger I didn't think I could compete against the best or even train with them," Gout said.
"Now I'm up there I couldn't be happier."
Another teenage record-breaker was South Australia's Ken Ferrante Tanikawa, who set a new mark of 12.59sec in the under-16 boys' 100m hurdles.
