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GABORONE. — Letsile Tebogo ensured that the Botswana Golden Grand Prix ended on a high for home fans as the 19-year-old stormed to a 200m PB of 19.87 (-0.3m/s) to win the final individual race of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Gaborone on Saturday. Botswana’s world Under-20 100m record-holder had to settle for second place in an earlier race over the shorter distance, but that proved to be the perfect warm up as he returned to the track an hour later to take 0.09 off his previous best of 19.96 that he set when securing silver at the World Under-20 Championships in Cali last year.
Although slightly behind off the bend, Tebogo powered past his rivals down the home straight and didn’t need to dip for the line as he crossed it clear ahead of Canada’s Aaron Brown (20.00) and Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh (20.14).
Building on the 20.00 200m season opener he achieved in Florida earlier this month, it’s a superb start to Tebogo’s senior career as the two-time world Under-20 100m champion takes a step up.
“In the 200m my body wasn’t responding, but I’m 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 that one last kick and I managed to finish the race,” said Tebogo after his celebrations with fans on his victory lap. “I’m really happy for the crowd, because it shows that Botswana people love sport. They should always come in numbers, so that they can make the sport grow.”
Tebogo clocked a wind-assisted 9.91 (2.3m/s) in the earlier 100m, finishing runner-up to Kenya’s African record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala, who ran 9.78. USA’s Olympic and world 200m medallist Kenny Bednarek, who like Tebogo was racing his first 100m of the season, finished third in 10.02.
Twanisha Terry dipped to victory in the women’s 100m, the 24-year-old — who formed part of USA’s world gold medal-winning 4x100m team in Oregon last year — pipping Egyptian record-holder Bassant Hemida, 11.05 to 11.09 (0.4m/s). USA’s Kiara Parker finished third in 11.16. The women’s 200m was won by USA’s Kayla White as she held off Sha’Carri Richardson, 22.38 (-0.5) to 22.54. An hour after finishing second in the 100m, Hemida claimed third place over double the distance, clocking 22.75. Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga is known for pushing himself to the limit and the 20-year-old did so again in the 400m in Gaborone, his performance resulting in a big PB of 43.91 — a time that moves him into the top 20 on the world all-time list.
Claiming some notable scalps, Samukonga — who set his previous best of 44.66 when winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year — tired in the closing stages but had built enough of a lead to still win clear ahead of Grenada’s 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James (44.76) and Botswana’s Leungo Scotch, who dipped under 45 seconds for the first time with 44.92. — World Athletics.
Online Reporter