Justin Gatlin makes his feelings known on Gout Gout, days after Australian prodigy breaks 56-year-old sprinting record

Former American track and field athlete Justin Gatlin commented on 16-year-old Gour Gout's recent performance at the Australian All-School Athletics Championships. The event happened earlier this month at the Queensland Athletics and Sports Center.

During the 100m finals of this competition, Gout shattered the 100m U18 Australian national record by clocking a run time of 10.17 seconds. This performance also placed him sixth on the U18 all-time list.

Additionally, Gout also set the U18 200m national record to tumble during the competition by clocking a run time of 20.04 seconds placing him second in the U18 all-time list. He broke the 56-year-old standing Australian record of 20.06 seconds previously held by Peter Norman.

Impressed by this performance, Gatlin shed light on Gout's performance in his Ready Set Go podcast. The former Olympic gold medalist lauded Gout's technique in handling himself during the race and also mentioned the Australian's capability to stay calm under pressure.

Justin Gatlin said:

"I don't know if you got a chance to watch the video of his races but impressive, very impressive. Not just impressive because of him beating the field by such a large margin but it's the fact of the technique and I watched him come off the turn and how he handled it. "

Gatlin further added:

"He ran those races like a professional athlete would run those races, even in the 100m when you saw one of his competitors got off the blocks ahead of him, he didn't panic and stayed poised. "

During the 200m final race in the event, Gout Gout also shattered Usain Bolt's U18 record of 20.13 seconds. Currently, he is just behind American athlete Erriyon Knighton who boasts a run time of 19.84 seconds over the 200m distance.

Justin Gatlin praised Gout Gout's vision to win a medal for Australia at a young age

Gatlin celebrates with the US flag after clinching a bronze medal in the 100m event during the 2012 Olympics (Image via: Getty Images)

Justin Gatlin praised Gout Gout's vision to win titles at the young age of 16. Reacting to one of Gout's interviews, he shed light on Gout's aim of winning a track medal for Australia.

Gatlin also mentioned that it is rare to find athletes with such a vision in this coming generation. He said, via the Ready Set Go podcast:

"I saw him get interviewed and he said "I want to bring back a sprint medal to Australia, I want to get on top of that podium for Australia" that's his goal. It's a rarity bro to find kids who have the talent but also have the will and the foresight to really see that okay to be legendary so I want to be I have to tackle all these things."

During the podcast, Justin Gatlin's co-host, Rodney Green also shed light on Gout's comparisons with Usain Bolt and asked the fans and pundits to let him build his own character.