Botswanan sprinter Letsile Tebogo set the best time in history over 300 meters in 30.69, a distance rarely run in athletics, this Saturday, February 17 during a meeting in Pretoria. He erased the record held until now. there by the South African Wayde Van Niekerk.
2 mins
Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo achieved the best performance in history over 300 meters during the Simbine Classic, an outdoor meeting organized this Saturday, February 17 in Pretoria, South Africa. The 20-year-old sprinter, African record holder over 200 meters and double medalist over 100 and 200 meters last summer during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, completed the distance in 30.69 and improved the South record -African Wayde Van Niekerk (30″81 in 2017).
Watch Letsile Tebogo 🇧🇼 storm to a World Record of 30.71s in the men’s 300m at the Simbine Curro Classic!
He breaks Wayde van Niekerk 🇿🇦 World Record and becomes Botswana’s first World Record ever. pic.twitter.com/In8gj0dJ5c
— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) February 17, 2024
After the race, Tebogo posed in front of the clock showing 30.71 before his performance was made official at 30.69 by the International Athletics Federation. For comparison, the previous 300 meter record established by Van Niekerk – current 400 meter world record holder in 43”03 during the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016 – was achieved a few weeks before his second world title in 400 meters in London (43″98) and his silver medal in the 200 meters (20″11).
An unofficial world record
It was already on this track at Pilditch Stadium that the American Michael Johnson, considered one of the greatest sprinters of all time, had set the old world record in 2000 with 30″85. Another legend of the discipline ran the distance in less than 31 seconds: the Jamaican Usain Bolt (30.97 in Ostrava in 2010).
Tebogo became the first African sprinter in history to reach the podium in the 100 meters, the premier race of athletics, during the World Championships in Budapest last summer. He finished second in 9.88, five hundredths behind the American Noah Lyles. A few days later, he also won the bronze medal in the 200 meters. This February 17, Letsile Tebogo made history a little more of his country since his stratospheric time marks the first world record held by a Botswanan athlete in the discipline.
The only downside: World Athletics, the International Athletics Federation, does not consider the 300 meter times as official records since the distance is not contested during international competitions.
(With AFP)