Rédaction Africa Links 24 with The Africa Links 24
Published on 2024-02-21 11:15:33
Letsile Tebogo’s coach, Kebonyemodisa “Dose” Mosimanyane, spoke about the unexpected success of his athlete. He mentioned that the World Record (WR) time of 30.69s at the Simbine Curro Classic Shoot-Out in Pretoria, South Africa, was not something they had specifically trained for. Despite not aiming for it, Letsile Tebogo managed to achieve this incredible feat, taking more than a tenth of a second off the previous World Best of 30.81s set by South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
According to Mosimanyane, their cautious approach came from returning from an injury. They were very careful not to push Tebogo too hard in their training for the Olympics and this season in general, as they were focused on gradually returning to competition. They wanted to avoid risking recurring injuries, particularly a hamstring injury, which is known to be challenging to recover from.
Their strategy for the current year’s training was to take a gradual approach to avoid stops and starts. Mosimanyane mentioned that they were aware that they would eventually have to start doing races and competing with spikes. For Tebogo’s first race of the year, which took place in Francistown last month, he used running takkies. The race in Pretoria, where the World Record was achieved, was the first race of the season where he competed with spikes.
Despite their cautious approach, Mosimanyane also mentioned that they were aware of the potential to break the World Record after Tebogo ran 31.52s last season in the 300m. However, after the injury sustained late last year, they decided to let this season pass since it was for the Olympics, and they did not want to risk further injuries.
Tebogo has a history of making remarkable achievements, such as setting a world U20 100m record of 9.94s at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in 2022. He improved upon this record, defending his own world U20 title in Cali the following month with a time of 9.91s. Additionally, he elevated his national 100m record to 9.88s while securing a silver medal at last year’s World Championships in Budapest. In the 200m event, his time of 19.50s in London stands as the African record. In Budapest, he secured silver in the 100m and bronze in the 200m with a time of 19.81s.
Mosimanyane concluded that their focus was on ensuring Tebogo’s full recovery from his injury, both physically and mentally, and that they did not train with the World Record in mind. Despite their cautious approach, Tebogo’s remarkable achievements and potential for breaking records show that he is indeed a great talent in the athletic world.
Read the original article on Gazette News
