18 Feb 2024

Botswana finest athlete, Letsile Tebogo has once again become a global topic after breaking the 300m record with a time of 30.61 at Simbine Curro Classic meet held in Pretoria, South Africa on Saturday.

He shattered South Africa’s Wayde Van Niekerk 30.81 record he set in Ostrava, seven years ago and his time means he ran better than American Michael Johnson, who clocked 30.85 in 2000 and Jamaica’s Usain Bolt’s 2010 time of 30.97.

Tebogo will in the meantime wait for the World Athletics to ratify his time and should it pass, he would have two world records under his belt as he currently holds the 100m World Junior Record of 9.91 he set in Cali, Columbia in 2022.

This was his first event to compete wearing spikes after sustaining an injury, which denied him a chance to take part in the Zurich Diamond League 200m finals.

In his season opener in Francistown in January, Tebogo wore trainers and clocked 46.72 but this time around his coach, Dose Mosimanyane instructed him to use spikes.

Little did he know that he would break the world record.

In an interview, Mosimanyane said their plan was to just feel the body and see how far it could go.

 “The world record was not in the plan. But I am not surprised. With his training partner, Bayapo Ndori and other athletes in the mix, I knew he would do something but this is not what we came here for,” said Mosimanyane.

In the same race, Ndori finished in position three clocking 31.95 while Tumo Van Wyk recorded 32.66 and finished eighth.

Botswana athletes did well in other races still in Curro Classic as  as Oratile Nowe clocked a National Record time of 2:40.87 in the 1 000m.

In the 600m, Tumo Nkape claimed a National Record time of 1.14.90 followed by fellow country man, Ketlhobogile Haingura with 1:14.96.

Meanwhile, a number of athletes hit the African Games qualifying mark during the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) meet held at the National Stadium on Saturday.

 BAA vice president, Oabona Theetso said the number of athletes, who qualified in total surpassed the quota they had been given by the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC).

BNSC informed us that they could only field 10 men and eight women and so, in that regard all athletes who qualified would be ranked, to determined who would represent the country, Theetso.

He said they wished that all athletes in the 400m who had also qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics should not compete in the individual race but rather in the 4x400m men’s relay.

“We want to qualify our 4x400m men’s relay for the Olympics therefore, we need fresh legs so that they can hit a qualifying mark without any hassle,” he said.

The vice president said he was pleased with the athletes as some recorded their Personal Best (PB) times.

He said Thabang Monngathipa clocked a PB of 46.94, which also qualified him for the World Junior Championships to be held August in Peru.

Same Mohutsiwa was a marvel to watch, both in the 100m and 200m under 18 categories respectively as she came with two PB of 12.22 and 25.00 respectively.

In the 400m women, Lydia Jele recorded a time of 52.29 followed by Obakeng Kamberuka and Tlhompang Basele with a time of 53.38 and 53.59 respectively.

The 400m men heat three was won by Leungo Scotch with 45.39 followed by Zibane Ngozi with 46.02 while Kago Seshoka clocked 46.41 to finish in position three.  ENDS