Teen sensation Gout Gout and the country’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis have demonstrated the incredible young talent in Australian sprinting by qualifying for the 200m semi-finals, while in the middle of Japan’s National Stadium Cameron McEntyre has got the throwers on the scoreboard by qualifying for the Javelin Final, with the longest throw by an Australian male at a World Championships.
In Gout’s first major senior championship, the 17-year-old had a great run to finish third in his heat and comfortably secure automatic progression to the semi-finals on Thursday night. His time of 20.23 seconds didn’t threaten his Australian record of 20.02, but times were not quick across the heats. Importantly, he has gained valuable experience and progressed to the next round as 12th quickest in the heats, with Bryan Levell (JAM) who won Gout’s heat the quickest with 19.84.
The high school kid from Ipswich in Queensland had the world’s media desperate to speak to him after the race.
“It’s great experience. I mean, running against the big dogs. It’s great and I’m excited for more,” Gout said.
“It’s definitely great to know that I’m up against the top-24 in the world, pretty much. I’ve been in Japan since Friday and getting to today felt so long, and today just happened. So it’s a pinch myself moment getting here.
In progressing to the semi finals on his World Athletics Championships debut, the Australian has upped world record Usain Bolt, who was run out of the heats at his first major championships at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
Aidan Murphy (SA, Nik Hagicostas) was the next best of the Australians in the heats, placing sixth in Heat 2 in 20.54 seconds. The run was just shy of the 21-year-old’s season best from Nationals in April. Proud Wakka Wakka man Calab Law (QLD, Andrew Iselin) ran a strong bend from the inside lane but faded down the straight to place 8th in 20.91 seconds. Murphy finished ranked 32nd and Law 44th from the 52 competitors.
There was no doubt that Torrie Lewis (QLD, Laurent Meuwly) was going to progress to the semi-finals when she flew around the bend and had a great rhythm down the straight. She backed up her Australian record and 100m semi-final berth by producing a career best time of 22.56 (0.0) over 200m.
The 20-year-old has the eighth fastest time from the six heats, leaving her with a smile ear-to-ear after suffering deep disappointment in the semi-final of her shorter sprint two nights ago.
“I had just put so much pressure on my 100m and had so many expectations. This one, I was just trying to see how it went, just run how I run. I knew that if I could PB then I would put myself in the best position to get to the semi-final,” Lewis said.
“Obviously in a semi-final anything can happen and I feel like I’m definitely up there, but whatever happens, happens.”
Competing in her first individual event at a World Championships, Kristie Edwards (NSW, Andrew Murphy) ran well to place sixth in her heat in 23.39 seconds. The Northern Beaches local ran a fast bend before losing some ground in the final 50 metres but ultimately fell short by 0.39 seconds, with a time of 23.00 required to progress. progress.
Mia Gross (VIC, John Nicolosi) also finished sixth in her heat (23.24secs) but again it wasn’t quick enough to progress on times. The Olympian, who ran the 4x400m relay heat on Day One of Tokyo 2025, had 100m World Champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (USA) on her inside lbut managed to hold her form well to the finish.
Not to be overshadowed by the young sprint stars, Cameron McEntyre (NSW, Angus McEntyre) hurled the javelin a career best 83.03 metres to qualify for the 12-man final in 11th place. His throw is the biggest by an Australian male at the World Championships, and he moves from 10th to 8th on the Australian all-time list.
McEntyre, who is coached by his brother Angus, was thrilled with his performance.
“It’s been a long time coming, a throw like that and I’m just so happy I could do it tonight. When I saw it land, I knew it was pretty big and a PB so I’m over the moon. I’ve never actually thrown a PB or my best in a comp on round two,” McEntyre said.
The final Australian in action on Wednesday night in Tokyo was Sarah Carli (NSW, Abbie Taddeo) in the 400m hurdles semi-finals, up against the gold medal favourite Femke Bol (NED) and Tokyo Olympic Champion Dalilah Muhammad (USA). Carli ran a clean race and corrected the problem she had at hurdle six from the heat. The racer from Wollongong finished strong and ran 0.21 seconds quicker than her heat performance. But 55.03 seconds in the semis was only quick enough for seventh.
The Australian action continues on Day Six begins at 8.05pm AEST, and can be viewed live and free on SBS and the Nine Network.
By Andrew Reid, Australian Athletics
Posted: 18/9/2025
