Bruce McAvaney says Gout Gout deserves favouritism amongst strong field Melbourne field

Legendary sports broadcaster Bruce McAvaney says Gout Gout deserves to start a “slight favourite” in Saturday night’s 200m showdown at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne in what looms as a three-way race.

Teenager Gout is chasing redemption over fellow Queenslander Lachlan Kennedy, who beat him to the tape in last year’s race, but McAvaney does not discount Irishman Ben Richardson.

“Gout has to start favourite, but not much in front of Lachie,” McAvaney said.

“Lachie’s best event is the 100, but he’s proven already that he’s a very, very fine 200 metre runner.

“It’s intriguing. You’ve got this great young star with so much focus on him, along with another star in Lachie and then the unknown of the Irish athlete.

“Richardson’s a very interesting athlete. He’s broken 10 seconds for 100 metres, he’s broken 20 seconds for 200.

“We just don’t know what sort of shape he’ll be in. If he’s in prime condition, then our guys are going to have their hands full.

“We just have to let it unfold and see what happens. Gout’s the favourite, but not an overwhelming favourite.”

Gout broke Peter Norman’s 56-year-old Australian 200m record of 20.06 from the 1968 Mexico City Olympics as a 16-year-old at the Australian All Schools Championships in 2024 when he clocked 20.04.

He took another 0.2sec off that in the Czech Republic last June and also ran a 19.84 in Perth last year with an illegal +2.2 (metres per second) wind. He has also run a flat 10 over 100m and a 9.99 in Perth last year with an illegal +3.5 wind.

Kennedy, 22, ran his 200m PB of 20.26sec to beat Gout last year and will also feature in the 100m when he takes on fellow Australian sprinter Rohan Browning and New Zealand young gun Tiaan Whelpton.

McAvaney does not expect record times on Saturday night.

“The conditions in Melbourne are generally pretty tough for sprinting. You normally get headwinds at that track, and it’s going to be pretty cold. So, I think that time is not so important on Saturday night, but the outcome is,” he said.

McAvaney said Gout’s effort to win the under-20 100m title in 10.20sec and the 200m in 20.42, driving into a 2.1m per second headwind at the recent Queensland championships, despite suffering from a head cold, was an “important” step.

“He proved for himself that everything doesn’t have to be absolutely going to plan to still produce a really great performance, and it was into a stiff breeze. He had some competition. I think it was crucial for him to have that performance against the odds,” he said.

West Australia’s three-time Olympian Peter Bol will look to back up his victory in the Perth Track Classic in February in a meet record time of 1min43.89sec when he takes on what McAvaney describes as a “hot field’ in the 800m in Melbourne.

Bol’s rivals include Australians Peyton Craig, the Oceania U20 record-holder, Bob Abdelrahim, Daniel Williams and Luke Boyes, along with New Zealander James Preston.

Bol is coming off a stellar 2025, highlighted by a personal best 1:42.55 in Monaco in July, and has a long-term goal of climbing one step higher on the podium at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July and August than his silver medal in Birmingham in 2022.

Now a father to 18-month-old daughter Reyna to partner Mahtut Yaynu, Bol has found contentment outside his sport and it is showing on the track. Last week, he set an Oceanian record with a 1:45.14 in the 800m final to finish fourth at the world indoor championships in Poland.

“We’ve got a lot of depth in the 800, and he’s leading the way,” McAvaney said of Bol.

“His season so far has been spectacular. It started in Perth with a 1:43, and then he went to Hobart and decided to run a different type of race and ran brilliantly there as well.

“He ran extremely well at the world indoors. He’s probably in the best form of his life. Now, he had a great season last year where he rewrote the record books, and he had the big run in Monaco after breaking the Australian record in Perth at the nationals.

“He ran fourth at the Olympics in 2021, as we all know. It was a very famous effort. He got the whole nation behind him. He’s had the ups and downs, and he could easily have given it up and thrown it away, but he’s come back incredibly well.”

Bol has forecast a record-breaking Commonwealth Games final where he will be up against first and second at the Paris Olympics, Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who won in 1:41.19, and Canada’s Marco Arop. The pair were also first and third at the worlds.

“That Commonwealth Games is going to be a big focus. Silver medal in Birmingham in 2022, but it will be a very, very hard field,” McAvaney said.

“He’s in a really good mind place. He’s really happy. Life’s good for him. He’s a devoted father and husband.

“This race on Saturday night, he has some young Australians around him; there are four of them who are absolutely top-notch. He’s got some competition, but I think he’s up for it.”

WA pole vault gold medallist Nina Kennedy will be ramping up her preparation for the nationals and the Commonwealth Games when she takes on identical US twins Amanda and Hanna Moll.

Fellow Olympic medallists Nicola Olyslagers (high jump) and Matt Denny (discus), and the dual between Australian 1500m runners Cameron Myers, Adam Spencer and Jude Thomas and Germany’s Robert Farken will be other highlights of a packed meet.

Watch the Maurie Plant Meet from 4pm WST live and free on 7mate and 7plus.