Usain Bolt has become the latest athlete to hail teenage sprinting sensation Gout Gout.
The 16-year-old continued his blistering form on the track at the Australian All Schools Athletics Championship over the weekend.
In addition to setting personal bests in both the 100m and 200m, Gout set a new national record in the latter.
His time of 20.04 seconds surpassed the longstanding record of Peter Norman, set at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
The teenager also clocked a faster time than Bolt’s best at that age back in 2003.
Bolt has now given his own verdict on the Aussie phenom after being asked for his thoughts by a fan.
Responding on Instagram, the eight-time Olympic gold medallist said: “He looks like young me.”
It comes after he previously passed on some advice for Gout whilst reflecting on his own early days in the sport.
Bolt told the High Performance Podcast last month: “When I started out, I didn’t understand the concept of ‘being great’ because I was young
“I was 15 when I won the world juniors, I was really young and I was really talented so I didn’t have to work as hard as it was just talent, as I was winning and winning.”
“I remember when I got to the professional level, and I felt like it was just going to be easy.” he continued.
“And I got to the stage where I would go to meets and I would lose. And I was like, ‘This is strange, this is new’. So it took me a while to understand.”
The Jamaican still holds the world records for both the 100m and 200m, which he set at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
Meanwhile, Gout had earlier set a wind-assisted personal best in the 100m in Brisbane.
Speaking after his 200m national record, the youngster told reporters: “Remember it.
“I’ve been chasing that record, but I didn’t think it would come this year. I thought it would come maybe next year, the year after that.
“Right now I can’t process it, but I guess tonight when I go to bed, I’ll think about it. These are adults. And me, I’m just a kid, and I’m running them (down). It’s pretty crazy.”
Bolt’s praise is the latest development in Gout’s meteoric rise this year, still three weeks away from turning 17.
He previously won silver at the World Under-20 Championships in Peru, once again in a faster time than Bolt had at the same age.
His medal was followed by a sponsorship deal with Adidas and an invite to train with Olympic champion Noah Lyles.
However, his father has sought to clarify a mistake around the sprint sensation – Gout Gout is not actually the teenager’s name.
“His name is Guot, it’s supposed to be Guot,” Bona told 7.
“When I see people called him Gout Gout I’m not really happy for him.
“I know that Gout Gout is a disease name but I don’t want my son to be called a disease name … it’s something that’s not acceptable.”
