Usain Bolt has offered priceless advice to other young sprinters looking to beat his records after 16-year-old Gout Gout did so in September.

Bolt was known as the fastest man alive after setting numerous sprinting records – Olympics and otherwise – that have yet to be broken. As it stands, the Jamaican icon currently holds the world records in the 100m (9.58 seconds), 200m (19.19s) and 4x100m (36.84s).

And despite retiring in 2017, the 38-year-old remains the pinnacle with which all other sprinters and Olympic athletes model themselves. Even with all the glory and the mythical status he has attained throughout his career, Bolt understands that while some athletes will attempt to reach the same pedestal, those who truly take part in the minutiae of the process will be the most successful.

During an appearance on the “High Performance Podcast,” the Olympic legend imparted valuable advice to young sprinters looking to make a name for themselves as he did. “When I started out, I was 15 when I won the world juniors,” he recalled.

“I was really young, I was really talented, so I didn’t have to work as hard. It was just talent, (but) I was winning, winning, and winning. I remember when I got to the professional level, and I gelt like it was just going to be easy. (But) I got onto the stage, and I would go to meets, and I would lose.

“I was like, ‘This is strange, this is new.’ It was something that took me a while to understand. Then when I started working with Coach Mills, and he kind of sat me down and explained, ‘Listen, everybody who’s a professional has talent, so it’s who works the hardest on their talent who will be the best.’

Jamaican retired sprinter Usain Bolt poses during his visit at the Athletics Stadium in Lima, on April 3, 2019, which has been renovated in preparation for the Pan American and Parapan American Games Lima 2019, to be held from July 26 to August 11. - Bolt, considered the greatest sprinter of all times, is in Lima representing a sportswear brand

Usain Bolt gave advice to young athletes based on his own experiences ( 

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Photo by ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP)

“That’s when I kind of understood that you can’t get to the top with just talent alone. You need work, you need sacrifice, you have to be dedicated. It took me time, but I learned along the way, and I got better over time.”

And it appears as if Bolt’s advice of combining hard work with talent has paid off for Gout, the 16-year-old sprinter who recently broke one of the Jamaican’s long-standing records. At the U20 World Championships in Peru, Gout broke Bolt’s 200m dash time of 20.61s by the slimmest of margins, recording a time of 20.60s.

The record stood since 2002 when Bolt was around the same age as Gout when he posted the record. Additionally, Bayanda Walaza won gold with a time of 20.54s while Jake Odey-Jordan rounded out the podium with a time of 20.81s.

Gout expressed pride after being told he won silver and broke Bolt’s record in the process. Speaking after the event, the teenager shared what was going through his mind while also paying attention to what was ahead of him.

“I’m feeling really relieved after a long two weeks of being in Lima,” he said after the race. “I’ve been training, grinding and just waiting patiently for this race to happen. Now that it’s done, I’m really glad and ready to get in my bed and rest up for the (4x100m) relay.”

Along with Gout’s impressive showing, another one of Bolt’s records fell early in the year. Nickecoy Bramwell broke the U17 400m world record by posting a time of 47.26s, which was 0.07s faster than Bolt’s previous record.