Australian Gout Gout, 18, ran 200 meters faster than the great sprinter Usain Bolt, the same age, as he raced to a national title on Sunday.
The teenager clocked a superb time of 19.67 seconds to set an under-20 world record.
It was the first time Gout had legally gone under 20 seconds, after a wind-assisted 19.84 last season, and it’s the world’s best time this year.
Gout had previously had the fastest time ever achieved by a 16-year-old, setting a national record of 20.06 when he burst onto the scene in 2024.
Sunday’s mark in Sydney put him ahead of eight-time Jamaican Olympic champion Bolt’s time of 19.93 in 2004.
Bolt was 17 when he set what was then a junior world record and never bettered that time as a teenager, before setting a series of senior world records later in his career.
American sprinter Erriyon Knighton’s 19.49 run in 2022 remains the fastest time by an under-20 athlete, although it was not ratified as an under-20 world record.
However, Knighton held the under-20 record with an official time of 19.69, set in June 2022, until Gout was faster.
Aidan Murphy, who was second to Gout on Sunday, also broke the 20-second mark with a time of 19.88.
“This is what I’ve been waiting for,” said Gout, who was born in Queensland to South Sudanese parents.
“We have incredible athletes in Australia and being able to compete with these athletes, we push each other to the limit. Two Australian under-20s. I mean, this is incredible.
“It takes a big weight off my shoulders knowing that I run it legally and that I have the speed and body to run times like that. So I definitely feel great and I’m ready for more.”
Gout has indicated he will skip the Commonwealth Games, which begin in Glasgow on July 23, to focus on the World Under-20 Championships in Oregon in early August.