Former Australian sprinting cult hero John Steffensen erred away from predicting whether Gout Gout would be able to conquer the Stawell Gift from scratch — a feat that’s only been achieved in the marquee men’s race twice in 142 years.
But the Commonwealth Games gold medallist hailed the Stawell Gift’s luring of a teen sensation who had “transcended the sport” of athletics and said he was set to make for “bloody good viewing” on Easter Monday.
It was revealed on Wednesday that Gout, the 17-year-old sprinting sensation from Queensland, had agreed to run the iconic 120-metre race in the Victorian town of Stawell.
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And in the likely event of Gout being dealt the most difficult handicap possible — a handicap of 10 metres — the hottest property in Australian athletics will be trying to become the first man since 2005 to win from scratch, 20 years on from Olympian Josh Ross’ heroic moment on the grass of Central Park.
The winners of the men’s and women’s 120m races will both pocket $40,000 at an event that’s billed as “Australia’s richest footrace”.
Steffensen contested the famous event in 2011, 2012 and 2014. His London Olympic Games campaign was derailed by a hamstring tear suffered in the final of the 2012 Stawell Gift.
“He’s definitely transcended the sport as far as athletics, so to have somebody who is on the tip of people’s tongues when it comes to sport … I think it’s great for the VAL [Victorian Athletic League] and the organisers of the Stawell Gift … He is the hot name in athletics at the moment,” Steffensen told Wide World of Sports.
“I love the Stawell Gift. I think it’s one of the premium athletics meets in the whole world. Its history and what it stands for is frickin’ amazing, how it’s run on grass, the tradition, a live event for spectators … It’s part of Australian history, and to have Gout a part of that I think is fantastic for everybody involved.”
Four years before Cathy Freeman’s golden moment in Sydney she produced a breathtaking win in the 400m in Stawell.
Kim Collins, the 2003 world 100m champion, and former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell are among the other greats to have run at the Stawell Gift.
“It’s hard to say how people’s star power compares and what they can generate as far as interest,” Steffensen said.
“But is it a good thing Gout is coming? Hell yeah, it’s a great thing he’s coming … He’s the in-form athlete and the talk of the town when it comes to sprinting at the moment in Australia, and even worldwide. Everyone’s talking about this young kid running fast … Every time he runs he’s going to generate attention, and if that attention is going to be focused on the Stawell Gift, how great is that for the Stawell Gift?”
Asked if Gout could win from scratch, Steffensen said he’d have to know who’s running and off which marks before making a call, but the thought of Gout trying to run over the top of the field had him raving.
“Because it’s Gout and the way he runs — he’s got such an extreme running gait, he runs so big and tall — and his best distance is the 200m, which suits him for the 120m, it’s built for him late,” Steffensen said.
“The last 20 [metres] is where the race is sorted out, when all the handicaps come into play, and to see a scratch marker mowing them all down is bloody good viewing.”
Gout will next race at the Queensland championships, to be held in Brisbane from March 13-16, where he will contest the 100m and 200m.
The Adidas-sponsored prodigy will then compete in the 200m at Melbourne’s Maurie Plant Meet on March 29.
At the Australian championships in Perth in April, a week before the Stawell Gift, Gout will compete in the open division in the 200m and the under-20 field in the 100m.
In the Ipswich product’s most recent viral run, he broke the Australian 200m record set by the iconic Peter Norman at the Mexico City 1968 Olympics.
Gout, 16 at the time, clocked 20.04 seconds in Brisbane in December to better the fastest time recorded by Usain Bolt at the same age. Bolt’s personal best at 16 was 20.13.
In January, Gout spent two weeks in Clermont, Florida on a training camp with the squad of American megastar Noah Lyles, the reigning 100m Olympic champion.