Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has qualified for the semi-finals of the 200m at the world championships in Tokyo.
Making his senior global championships debut, the 17-year-old recovered from a slow start to storm home and stop the clock at 20.23s.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Gout Gout impresses in 200m heats.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today 
He finished third in his heat, which was enough to secure automatic qualification.
It was a bit slower than his national record of 20.02s, but was still super impressive given the pressure on his shoulders.
“He was shaky early ... he would have been rattled for a moment, but he held it together,” legendary commentator Bruce McAvaney said.
“Job done. He is going to learn so much from all that.”
Aussie Olympian Tamsyn Manou added: “That was a lot of pressure that was on his shoulders. You can see the emotion pouring out, he’s gone to every athlete to congratulate them.”
Social media quickly lit up after the Aussie’s stunning performance, with the official Olympic account among the many accounts to post.
Gout, who qualified 12th overall, will return to the track on Thursday night for the semi-finals before a potential final on Friday night.
He is the youngest man in the 200m field in Tokyo and the youngest man ever to be selected in an Australian team at a world athletics championships.
Gout set the Australian record of 20.02 earlier this year and is every chance to dip under the 20-second barrier later in the championships in Tokyo.
Jamaican Bryan Levell blitzed the heat to qualify fastest with a sensational 19.84, while American superstar Noah Lyles clocked a 19.99s to cruise through his heat.
Fellow Aussies Aidan Murphy (20.54s) and Calab Law (20.91s) failed to get out of their tough heats.
Meanwhile, Australia’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis also qualified for the semi-finals of the 200m with a blistering personal best.
Lewis, who was shattered after crashing out in the semi-finals of the 100m, clocked a brilliant 22.56s to finish second in her heat.
Her time was the eighth-fastest among all competitors, which will give her enormous confidence of reaching the final.
It was also just 0.3s outside of Melinda Gainsford-Taylor’s national record of 22.23, which has stood for 28 years.
Fellow Aussies Mia Gross and Kirstie Edwards failed to qualify for the next round.
Anavia Battle topped the qualifying sheets with 22.07 ahead of fellow American and 100m gold medallist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (22.24), who is chasing the sprint double in Tokyo.
Elsewhere, Sarah Carli failed to qualify for the final of the 400m hurdles after finishing seventh in her semi-final with a 55.02.
Australian Connor Murphy (16.58m) was 16th overall in men’s triple jump qualifying, with only the top 14 advancing.
- With AAP
Stream free on
