Teenage sensation Gout Gout in talks to train with Noah Lyles after breaking Usain Bolt's U16 world record

Noah Lyles is in talks to mentor 16-year-old Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout at his Florida training base. Both sprinters are signed to Adidas, and according to the Australian's manager, James Templeton, the shoe company has offered the sprinter the opportunity to train at their Florida facility, where Lyles also trains.

Gout rose to prominence after breaking Usain Bolt's 200m U16 world record earlier this year. He ran an impressive 20.61s to win the silver medal at the U20 World Championships, bettering the Jamaican's record set in 2002 by 0.01s.

The teen has only become faster since and recently clocked a blistering 20.29s at the Queensland All Schools Track and Field Championships. It is the fourth fastest 200m time clocked by an Australian in history, and the fastest by anyone from the nation since 1993.

He signed a professional contract with Adidas last month, which has opened an opportunity for him to train with reigning 100m Olympic champion Lyles. Gout's manager, James Templeton, made this revelation on the ABC Sport Daily podcast.

"We have the opportunity to go to Florida and join the training group of Noah Lyles and [coach] Lance Brauman. There's about 16 or 18 top sprinters there," he said.

"We'll be heading over for two or three weeks. That'll be a great opportunity, a wonderful educational experience," he added.

Templeton further added that while he hadn't heard from Lyles yet, he hoped the American would be happy to guide the teenager.

"I haven't heard from Noah, but he's a great guy and I'm sure he'll be happy to take the younger guy under his wing a little bit."

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James Templeton hopes to protect Gout Gout from comparisons with Usain Bolt

Gout Gout's blazing runs have taken social media by storm in recent weeks. After the teenager shattered Usain Bolt's U16 200m world record, comparisons to the legendary Jamaican sprinter began to surface. However, his manager is working to shield the 16-year-old from these comparisons to protect him from undue pressure.

"I've avoided using the 'UB' comparison. I think that's unfair to a young athlete," he said.

"For 18 months I've basically said a blanket 'no' to every media outlet in Australia that has asked. We just want to allow him to be a normal kid at school. We don't want him to have any distraction," Templeton added.

The 16-year-old is expected to skip the 2026 Commonwealth Games to focus on the World Junior Championships taking place in the same year.