Gout Gout has celebrated his “great relationship” with friendly rival Lachie Kennedy as they prepare to add another chapter at the Stawell Gift.
The sprint stars, aged 17 and 21 respectively, have taken Australia by storm with a series of barnstorming runs at the 100m and 200m distances over the summer.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Gout Gout shares touching truth about ‘friendly rival’ Lachie Kennedy.
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But they lit up Central Park over 120m on Saturday and will go again in the semi-finals on Easter Monday with an eye on meeting in the final that afternoon.
Their rivalry reached its first peak at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne last month when Kennedy won the 200m final by a nose.
With Gout sticking to under-20 races in the 100m, where both are chasing legal times under 10 seconds, they were due to meet again in the 200m at the Australian Athletics Championships earlier this month.
But Kennedy was disqualified on the starting blocks — so he jogged the track to celebrate Gout’s victory with his would-be opponent.
A similar situation took place off-screen at the Stawell Gift on Friday, with the pair watching each other win their respective heats before meeting to congratulate the other with a warm embrace.
“It’s definitely a great relationship,” Gout told Channel 7’s Sunday Footy Feast.
“Me and Lachie, we’ve raced other for a couple of years now, ever since I started he’s always been in my heat at shield meets.
“We’ve definitely built a relationship off that and just being together and racing together helps us take it to the next level.
“Obviously we’re trying to beat each other but we also want the best for each other during the runs.
“Especially here in Stawell. I was before his heat and he was cheering me on, and after my heat I was cheering him on.
“It’s definitely great and it’s a rivalry but it’s also a friendship as well.”
Gout’s appearance on the pre-game show, ahead of Channel 7’s continued coverage of the Stawell Gift, comes with global interest in the sprinter continuing to grow.
The teenager’s past runs went viral before the summer while he signed for Adidas late last year and trained with the brand’s Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles in January.
All this while completing Year 12 studies at Ipswich Grammar.
He said the secret to coping with the fame is to keep it simple.
“I think I’m handling it pretty well. There’s always going to be ‘pressure’ and social media,” he said, raising his fingers to put quotation marks around pressure.
“But I just keep a simple mind, keep my training simple, keep my life simple and just go with the flow.”
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