Nairobi — World 100m silver medalist Letsile Tebogo says this weekend’s Kip Keino Traditional was not the fitting time for him to compete within the males’s 100m.
The Botswana speedster stated the season has simply began, including that there shall be alternatives for him to run within the race within the lead-up to the Paris Olympics.
“The season is simply too lengthy…it’s nonetheless too early to interact within the 100m that is why we opted for the 200metres. Final time I competed right here within the 200m was in 2021 and now we’re right here to do it once more,” the teenager stated.
Had he opted to run within the males’s 100m, the world underneath 20 100m champion would have been a part of a three-way battle additionally that includes Commonwealth Video games 100m champion – and residential crowd favorite – Ferdinand Omanyala in addition to Olympics 200m silver medalist Kenneth Bednarek.
Nonetheless, Tebogo shall be lining up for the boys’s 200m the place he’ll come up towards an equally elite rivals together with the 2022 World Relay 4x100m champion Brendon Rodney of Canada, African Video games 200m silver medalist Claude Emmanuel Itoungue of Cameroon, the 2018 Commonwealth Video games 100m silver medalist Henricho Bruintjies of South Africa in addition to america pair of Courtney Lindsey and Corian Camel.
The world 200m bronze medalist reveals he doesn’t have any targets for Saturday’s one-day meet.
“We do not have a goal but…I do not know what the others have been doing behind the scenes however we are going to put up an awesome present on Saturday,” he stated.
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Nairobi holds a particular place within the teenager’s coronary heart contemplating it was on the Moi Worldwide Sports activities Centre Kasarani the place he gained his first profession medal — gold within the males’s 100m on the World Beneath 20 Championships in 2021.
He additionally clinched silver within the males’s 200m on the similar competitors.
Tebogo went on to defend his world title on the subsequent version in Cali, Colombia in 2022 the place he clocked a world underneath 20 document of 9.88.
Regardless of his speedy rise to the highest of the sprints world, Tebogo is fast to brush all of it away, insisting that the long run is extra necessary.
“We do not wish to deal with the previous as a result of if we try this, we are going to by no means be capable of progress to the long run. The silver medals might seem to be I’m a favorite going into Saturday however we are attempting a brand new technique,” he stated.
Tebogo arrived within the nation on the Jomo Kenyatta Worldwide Airport (JKIA), accompanied by his coach Kebonyemodisa Dose Mosimanyane.