Gout Gout said he suffered a hamstring tear during a practice session in Brisbane and will pull out of the upcoming World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene next month.
In a post on social media on Thursday, Gout, 18, described the injury as a grade 3C tear following an MRI exam.
“Unfortunately I suffered an injury to my left hamstring last night at training in Brisbane. I received this morning the MRI report, unfortunately the news is not good and I will not be able to compete in Eugene at the World U20 championships next month.”
Recovery time from a grade 3C hamstring tear is an extensive process and typically takes 8 to 16 weeks before returning to full activity. Gout did not specify if he will require surgery to repair the injury but a severe tear is typically subject to surgery if the tendon has fully pulled away from the bone.
Gout’s injury is an eight centimeter tear as he listed comments in the MRI report as “a partial thickness tear of the proximal intramuscular tendon of the long head biceps femoris [hamstring].”
“I’m very disappointed but I have no other possibility but to accept the situation. I understand this is part of athletics,” Gout said in his message. “My focus now will be on my rehab in the coming weeks and months and ensuring I come back in 2027 better and stronger and faster.”
Gout has had a solid campaign on the track this season, setting a new Australian under-20 men’s 100m record of 10.00 in February, which is the fastest time ever run on the continent. He defended his men’s 200m title with a new national record in 19.67 at April’s Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney.
In his Diamond League debut in Oslo at the Bislett Games in June, he clocked a 20.60 and took sixth in the men’s 200m. A week later, Gout appeared at the Golden Spike in Ostrava and finished third in the men’s 150m in 14.96 in a race where Noah Lyles broke the world record in 14.67.
“Australian Athletics sends our support to Gout Gout as he today announced he will not run in the world athletics under-20 championships in Eugene in the United States in August,” said Andrew Faichney, who is the organization’s performance general manager. “Gout has had a phenomenal couple of years and he has a long career ahead of him including hopefully making many more Australian teams in the future.”
