Relay disqualification costs women silver, but Australia still claims record medal haul

Australia’s women’s sprint relay team crossed the line and celebrated. They had won silver at the world under-20 championships in Peru. Another silver medal for the dominant Australians.

But the celebrations were short-lived. Within a minute, they were alerted to the fact they had a problem. Within five minutes they were disqualified.

The Australian 4x100m relay team finished second at the under-20 world championships in Lima, but were disqualified within minutes of the race.Credit: X (@AthsAust)

A clumsy baton handover between Olivia Rose Inkster and Torrie Lewis had cost them.

The pair were outside the handover box by the time they exchanged the baton, denying Australia another silver medal at what, otherwise, has been an extraordinary event for Australia with a record haul.

Earlier that day, Australia had already won two silver medals; 17-year-old Cam Myers in the 1500 metres and Izobelle Louison-Roe in the high jump.

Those medals helped take the country’s total haul to 14 including two golds, seven silver and five bronze. That is the most ever by an Australian junior team.

Coming off the back of the most successful Olympics in 70 years in athletics, the prospects for Los Angeles in four years’ time and Brisbane in 2032 look extremely bright.

Myers, you might recall, is the kid who last year, as a 16-year-old, broke the world mile record and became the second-youngest person to break the four-minute mile. Now 17, he won silver in Lima over 1500m.

Last year, as a 16-year-old, Delta Amidzovski ran the 100m hurdles in 13.02 seconds to break a record for under-18s set 20 years earlier by Sally Pearson.

In Peru, she won gold ... in the long jump. When you are looking for stars of the future Amidzovski’s name will be right there. Alongside Myers, Claudia Hollingsworth, who also won silver here, and Torrie Lewis who missed the sprint relay silver but took home the individual 200m silver, and Peyton Craig another who took silver his in the 800m.

Izobelle Louison-Roe shows her pride at the World under-20 Athletics Championships in Lima, Peru.Credit: Athletics Australia / Andrew Hilditch

But those are the names of the precocious few who already became familiar to Australians after their prematurely impressive Olympics performances in Paris.

The name that could surpass them all is Gout Gout. He is the 16-year-old Queenslander who won the 200m silver in the most eye-catching fashion of any athlete. Tall with a long stride and upright gait, he has clear similarities to the running style of the world’s greatest sprinter, Usain Bolt.

It wasn’t just the fact he won the silver in Peru that caught attention, it was the way in which he did it. He won his heat by half the length of the straight in 20.7s and slowing.

Then in the final, he came from sixth just off the bend, and seemingly out of contention, to surge in the final 50 metres to take silver and almost pinch the gold.

He ran 20.6s to cut his own national under 18-record of 20.69s.

But that’s not the most interesting fact about his run. What’s more compelling is that his time was 0.01s quicker than Bolt ran when he won the same event 20 years ago. Although it must be acknowledged that Bolt was younger – he was not yet 16, while Gout is 16 turning 17 on December 29. It is one thing to be the fastest-ever Australian in his event, but to be tracking at a similar level to the greatest athlete the world has ever seen, puts his performance on a different plane.

The Bolt comparison, here at least, does not suggest he might be faster than Bolt in the future. But it does illustrate just how impressive Gout is at his age, and prompts wonder at the possibilities of where he could go next.

His last 70 metres coming off the bend in that 200m was Bolt-like, a reminder of how the champion used to slingshot off the bend. There was also just a tiny resemblance to Paris 100m gold medallist Noah Lyles, who, in 200m races, has the great advantage that he can keep accelerating when others around him start to slow, allowing him to stay a threat, even when seemingly deep in the field.

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