Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Letsile Tebogo’s world under 20 record ratified

Letsile Tebogo’s junior men world 100m record set last year at the World Athletics Under 20 Championships Cali 22 games in Colombia has been ratified.

The sprinter successfully defended his 100m title at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22. He had broken the championship record in his heat with 10.00, then won his semifinal in 10.14 before going on to dominate the final in 9.91 (0.8m/s).

His winning time took 0.03 off the world U20 record he had set in Eugene on 15 July in the heats of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.

“When the gun went off, I had to make sure I made the best start of my life – and it was the best start of my life,” said Tebogo. “As soon as I took my first step, I knew the title was mine. I didn’t worry about the time. I didn’t look.”

The ratification, which outright makes him the junior men 100m record holder caps what was an amazing 2022 for the youthful sprinter. In April last year, he became the first Motswana athlete to run a sub-10 when he clocked 9.96s in 100m at the National Stadium in Gaborone.

He followed that up with another sub-10s at the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022 in July when he ran 9.94s. This was followed by a junior world record breaking 9.91s dash at the Cali World Junior championships in August.

In addition, he became the youngest 200m African champion 2022, becoming the youngest title holder in competition history. To top it all off, Letsile was among the nominees for the World Athletics Rising Star year award despite not scooping it.

(additional reporting by World Athletics)

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