30 Apr 2023

Fresh from the juniors, Botswana sprinter Letsile Tebogo is slowly but surely stamping his authority in the senior category as evidenced at the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix  on Saturday.

He finished second in the 100 metre and first in the 200 metre races, clocking 9.91 behind Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala and destroyed the field in the 200 metres with a time of 19.87.

His performance is a clear indication that he was sending a message to his competitors for the coming World Championships to be held in Budapest in August and the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The big boys did not take Tebogo’s performance lightly either, and they are cognizant of the fact that he would be a strong competitor.

This is what they said
Jerome Blake-Canada: “He is a young kid with a lot of talent, I know he has a lot of potential, he is a fighter, he just has to navigate his professional life properly, get some good people around him that will keep him grounded, honestly I think he can go very far.”

 Brendon Rodney-Canada; “Letsile should just stay healthy, humble and work very hard, not every day is going to be your day, sometimes you have good days and he must enjoy them, but when days are darker there will be nobody for him, so he must continue to work very hard”

Andree De Grasse-Canada: “Yeah Letsile is a good competitor, he has talent definitely he is going to cause problem at the World Championships and I think he has a good chance, and I will personally watch out for him”
Joseph Fahnbulleh-Liberia “He is a good athlete, and it shows he trains very hard, and putting his country on the map in the sprints, so he is going to be a big threat in the coming competitions.”

Aron Brown-Canada “He is very very strong, great performer, and I think he is going to be a problem in the future for the rest of sprints out there because he is young, he knows how to run at high level so it is going to be difficult to handle him, he should stay healthy, that is the sectret for him to last in sport.”

Letsile Tebogo: A win in the 200 metres means a lot to us because it shows us that we are not far from the big boys in terms of performance, and I think as the season progresses we will be able to put up a good fight against them, the 19.87 time means we are on the right track, we just have to go back to the drawing board and fix two or three thing then we will be rearing to go.

Ferdinand Omanyala-Kenya: “Letsile is a rare gem, and for me it is not all about beating him, but I am happy that Africa is now sending a very strong message to the world that we can have world beaters in the sprints, so I advise him to work very hard. I and him we have a lot of work to do, imagine winning a gold and silver at major events, for me it’s all about our continent, I don’t take him as my competitor, but my brother in arms.”

Setafano Cugusi (Letsile’s manager): “We are happy with his performance, and in the 200 metres he was super, he clocked a Personal Best time, and showed his potential in the 100 metres with a 9.91 in his first 100 metres of the season, last season we did not start our season with a bang.

So his performance is important as we prepare for the World Championships” End