{"id":227499,"date":"2026-02-08T10:42:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T10:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/08\/australian-sprint-star-gout-gout-will-not-race-at-2026-commonwealth-games\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T10:42:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T10:42:32","slug":"australian-sprint-star-gout-gout-will-not-race-at-2026-commonwealth-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/08\/australian-sprint-star-gout-gout-will-not-race-at-2026-commonwealth-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian sprint star Gout Gout will not race at 2026 Commonwealth Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has decided not to compete at this year\u2019s Commonwealth Games<\/a> in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old will instead focus on the world under-20 championships in August, where he hopes to emulate the legendary Usain Bolt. The two events are taking place back-to-back, with Gout and his support team deeming it unwise for him to contest both so early in his burgeoning career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is [a big decision],\u201d Gout told the Seven Network. \u201c[The Commonwealth Games] is a great event and it\u2019s one of those big meetings everyone loves. But looking at it, it is definitely a better decision going for the world under-20s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The world under-20s meeting \u2013 formerly known as the world junior championships \u2013 will take place from 5-9 August in Eugene, Oregon, at the same stadium that hosted the 2022 world championships.<\/p>\n

Before going on to dominate world sprinting and rewrite the record books, Bolt kicked off his career with 200m gold at the 2002 world juniors. Gout, who was second in the half-lap race at the world under-20 championships in Lima at the age of 16, has often spoken of his wish to emulate Bolt\u2019s feat.<\/p>\n

Gout had been flagged as a potential 100m medallist in Glasgow, and his absence will be a significant blow to the Australian team, and the event as a whole.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Scotland\u2019s First Minister, John Swinney with Commonwealth Games mascot Finnie. Glasgow is hosting the event after original hosts Victoria pulled out.<\/span> Photograph: Jane Barlow\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Australia\u2019s Commonwealth Games team chef de mission, Petria Thomas, said she understood the teenager\u2019s decision to pull out of the Games, which run from 23 July to 2 August.<\/p>\n

\u201cGout is a remarkable talent and although he won\u2019t be in Glasgow, we hope to see him don the green and gold at a Commonwealth Games in the future,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important that we all remember he is 18 and remains on the rise. He has a long career ahead of him and we respect his decision to prioritise the world under-20 championships as he builds towards a home Olympic Games at Brisbane 2032.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

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Australian Athletics<\/a> has also supported Gout\u2019s decision to focus on the junior championships. The teenager from Queensland has become a cult figure after exploding on to the global athletics scene in the last two years.<\/p>\n

After breaking Peter Norman\u2019s 56-year-old 200m Australian record in late 2024, Gout made global headlines in 2025 with a world championships debut and 200m semi-final appearance in Japan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has decided not to compete at this year\u2019s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The 18-year-old will instead focus on the world under-20 championships in August, where he hopes to emulate the legendary Usain Bolt. The two events are taking place back-to-back, with Gout and his support team deeming it unwise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":227500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6802],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-227499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-athetics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}