Gout Gout receives challenge from 19-year-old rival as teenage stars fight for limelight
Bayanda Walaza, who became the first athlete since 1998 to win the 100m and 200m titles at the U20 World Championships, has challenged Gout Gout to a rematch.
Sprinting prodigy Gout Gout has been challenged to a rematch by South African rival Bayanda Walaza in a bid to find out who is truly the fastest teenager in athletics. Gout, at just 17 years old, has already become one of the most exciting names in athletics.
He achieved fame by breaking youth records previously held by the legendary Usain Bolt. In August 2024, he won silver in the 200m at the Under-20 World Championships with a time of 20.60. He was beaten in the final by the now 19-year-old Walaza, a silver medallist in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games' 4x100m relay, who blazed past the finish line with a time of 20.52. While much of the international spotlight has been on Gout, Walaza returned from the Olympics and sat his preliminary matric exams at Curro Hazeldean High School in Pretoria, before jetting off halfway across the world to compete in Lima, Peru.
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In addition to his 200m victory, Walaza won in the Under-20 100m final, becoming the first athlete since 1998 to clinch both titles. The remarkable speed of the two teenagers has led to a battle for the title of the next big name in sprinting and the potential heir to Bolt, with plenty of debate on social media over who is faster.
Speaking to the official Olympics website, Walaza voiced his surprise at the level of interest in the pair already. He also revealed he is desperate to face Gout again, acknowledging their rivalry could become monumental in the sport.
“People talk about this rivalry, which excites me and shows that people notice athletics,” Walaza said. “I never thought that athletics was this big! I've seen the comments, and people are saying ‘Walaza vs Gout!’ It makes me want to race him again.
“I think he's better than he was last year, from what I can see. I can see that he's improved a lot since last year.
"I just want to race him again and see how it’s going to go again. We are creating a thing where the new generation is coming up, and people are noticing the young ones.”
In the meantime, Gout clocked a remarkable time of 20.05 to clinch the U20 200m title at the Queensland Athletics Championships in Brisbane back in March. His time fell a mere 0.01 seconds short of the national senior record for the half-lap sprint.
