Letsile Tebogo amazes home crowed with impressive 200m win Gaborone

Saturday, 29 April 2023

Reigning world junior 100 metres champion Letsile Tebogo improved his PB to 19.87 into a slight headwind of -0.3 m/s to win the 200 metres in front of his home fans in the final individual race at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix in Gaborone, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold. Tebogo took his previous PB of 19.96 that he set when he won the world under 20 silver medal in Cali last August.

Tebogo beat world 4x100 champion Aaron Brown (20”00) and Olympic and world finalist Joseph Fahnbulleh (20.14). Canadian André De Grasse finished a distant seventh in 20.41.

Tebogo started his season with 20.00 in his seasonal debut in Miramar a few weeks ago.

“In the 200 metres my body was not responding, but I am proud of it because it shows me that I can keep pushing forward. At the curve, I was neck-to-neck with Aaron Brown, but in the last 50 metres I had one last kick and I managed to finish the race. I am really happy for the crowd, because it shows that Botswana people love sport. They should always come in numbers, so they can make the sport grow”, said Tebogo.

Men’s 100 metres:

Earlier in the program African 100 metres record holder Ferdinand Omanyala won the men’s 100 metres in a wind-assisted 9.78 (+2.3 m/s) ahead of Tebogo (9.91). Olympic and world 200m semifinalist Kenny Bednarek placed third in 10.02 in his first 100 metres of the season.

Kenya’s Samuel Imeta won the B race in 10.10.

Ferdinand Omanyala: “My main target is to become the African man the World Championships in the 100 metres. Training has gone so well. This year started well with the indoor season in France, where I performed well and just broke two national records within a week. After the indoor tour, we went into one month of training without competing, then came back in March and ran three sub-10 times in two days. It is an indication that the indoor season helped”.

Men’s 400 metres:

Twenty-year-old Muzala Samukonga dipped under the 44 seconds barrier for the first time in his career to win the men’s 400 metres in a world-leading time of 43.91. The Zambian athlete moves into the top 20 in the all-time list. Samukonga won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in 44.66 last August.

Samukonga becomes the third African sprinter in history behind world record holder Wayde Van Niekerk (43.03) and Isaac Makwala (43.72). Former world and Olympic Kirani James and Botswana’s Leungo Scotch also dipped under the 45 seconds barrier with 44.76 and 44.92.

Women’s 100 metres:

Women’s 4x100 champion Twanisha Terry won the women’s 100 metres in 11”05 edging Egypt’s Bassant Hemida (11”09) and Klara Parker (11”16).

Women’s 200 metres:

Kayla White won the women’s 200 metres in 22.38 beating her compatriot Sha’Carri Richardson (22”54). Hemida placed third in 22.75.

Women’s 400 metres:

World 800 metres bronze medallist and Commonwealth gold medallist Mary Moraa improved the Kenyan record to win the women’s 400 metres in 50.44 (qualifying standard for the World Championships in Budapest). Moraa set her previous PB of 50.67 at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels last September.

Miranda Coetzee from South Africa finished second in 51.14 ahead of Jamaica’s Candice McLeod (51.17).

Men’s 400 metres hurdles:

Trevor Bassitt won the men’s 400 metres hurdles in 48.43 beating African champion and formed world under 20 gold medallist Sokhwanka Zazini from South Africa, who improved his PB to 48.58.

Men’s shot put:

Italian indoor champion Leonardo Fabbri won the all-Italian battle in the men’s shot put with 21.32m beating his training partner Zane Weir, who produced a best put of 21.09m in the final round. Scott Lindoln from Great Britain placed third with 20.32m.

Leonardo Fabbri: “I am very happy with this performance in far from ideal conditions. The circle was slippery and it was a very hot day. It is always important to throw over 21 metres. I have trained well during the training camp in South Africa”

Men’s long jump:

US Marquis Dendy won a high-quality men’s long jump with a leap of 8.34m in the third round beating Norway’s Ingar Bratseth Kiplesund, who improved the national record to 8.21m in his second attempt. LaQuan Naim from the Bahamas placed third with 8.10m beating USA’s Jarrion Lawson by one cm.

Women’s long jump:

World silver medallist Ese Brume leaped to 6.77m in the sixth attempt to win the women’s long jump. Heptathlon specialist Marthe Koala from Burkina Faso improved the national record to 6.69m in the second round to finish second. Maryse Luzolo from German finished third with a European lead of 6.61m.

Women’s shot put:

USA’s NCAA champion Adelaide Aquilla won the women’s shot put with 18.53m beating Great Britain’s Amelia Stricker (17.24m) and Portugal’s Jessica Inchude (17.11m).

Women’s 800 metres:

Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu dipped under the 2 minutes to win the women’s 800 metres in 1:59.35 ahead of South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso (2:00.39).

Men’s 4x100 relay:

Kenya set a national record in the 4x100 relay with 38.36 to move to a qualifying position for the World Championships in Budapest.

Mixed 4x400 relay:

Botswana moved to a qualifying position for the World Championships in Budapest in the mixed 4x400 with 3:21.88.