Gout Gout has fallen short of qualifying for the men’s 200m final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, finishing fourth in his semifinal.
Watch the biggest Aussie sports & the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
Gout came home strong but it wasn’t enough for the 17-year-old sprint sensation, who finished with a time of 20.36.
The fastest two runners, who were Bryan Levell (19.78) and Letsile Tebogo (19.95), automatically qualified from Gout’s semifinal.
The quickest two athletes from the three heats to miss out on automatic qualification also go through to the final, but unfortunately Gout wasn’t fast enough to get there.
Despite that, it was an impressive effort from Gout in what was the teenager’s first major championship and commentator Bruce McAvaney took particular note of the fact he went to shake and congratulate every one of his competitors in a show of class beyond his years.
“It’s been a great experience,” Gout told Channel Nine after the race.
“Just to come out here at the young age of 17 is an experience not many people can experience. So I’m happy to be here.
“Tokyo is one of the things I’ve wanted to visit for a long time, and to visit it and get that world championship is to my dreams come true. So definitely happy to be here.
“… Being able to come out here in the semi-final and do my thing, it’s pretty, pretty incredible.”
Gout Gout finishes 4th – Misses final | 01:45
Like Gout, fellow Australian 200m hopeful Torrie Lewis also finished fourth in her semifinal with a time of 22.69.
Lewis looked good early and was holding strong around the bend in third place before being pipped by Ashanti Moore in the final 50 metres.
It was always going to be a challenge for Lewis, with former Olympic 100m champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and 2019 world champion Dina Asher-Smith in her race.
Jefferson-Wooden finished first with a time of 22.00 while Asher-Smith was second (22.21).
Earlier, two other Australians made history with Rose Davies and Linden Hall qualifying for the women’s 5000m final.
It marks the first time Australia has two women in the 5000m final at a world championships.
While Davies and Hall will run again, fellow Australian Georgia Griffith finished 17th in her heat and missed out.
Elsewhere, 1500m bronze medallist Jess Hull required a protest to the advance to the the 800m semi-finals heats after she went down hard as she pushed towards second place in her heat.
“There was a bit of nudging behind her and unfortunately Jess Hull… that’s tragic news,” Bruce McAvaney said in commentary.
“It happened so fast. She was just about to get to second and she’s unfortunately had to heel clipped behind her.”
“It was a messy race right from the start,” Tamsyn Manou added.
“She might be able to appeal that if they relook at the footage of what happened.”
Hull tumbles out of 800m heat! | 00:29
Hull finished the race with a spike cut on her leg and fortunately, her appeal was successful.
“I was taken from behind I think,” Hull told Channel Nine after the race.
“There’s nothing I could have done there. So I don’t know, I’m sure they’ll look at it and we’ll see.”
The other two Australians in the 800m heats — Claudia Hollingsworth and Abbey Caldwell — progressed through to the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers cruised through to the women’s high jump final after comfortably clearing 1.92m. Fellow Australian Emily Whelan missed out while Cameron McEntyre finished 12th in the men’s javelin final.
LIVE BLOG
Follow along for live updates from Night 6 in Tokyo. Can’t see the blog? Click here!
AloJapan.com