Letsile Tebogo: Usain Bolt and Michael Johnson wrapped in one?

Botswana's Letsile Tebogo is the fastest man in three different events this year

Letsile Tebogo: Usain Bolt and Michael Johnson wrapped in one?

Joel Omotto 08:34 - 10.05.2024

Letsile Tebogo’s top performances in 100m, 200m and 400m has left observes wondering if he could combine the capabilities of sprint legends Usain Bolt and Michael Johnson.

Botswana sprint sensation Letsile Tebogo has earned the plaudits following his impressive 2024 season that saw him win his first medal last weekend at the World Relays Championships.

The praises are well deserved for the sprinter who keeps showing immense promise and quality.

Tebogo is proving to be a generational talent that is multifaceted with his top performances in 100m, 200m and 400m.

While it is premature, and a bit unfair, Tebogo is already showing qualities exhibited by both sprint icons Usain Bolt and Michael Johnson even if he is still far from the heights hit by those two legends.

Tebogo won his first medal as a senior aged 19 at the 2023 World Championships, claiming silver in 100m before taking bronze in 200m, which effectively announced his arrival on the grand stage, and was part of the Botswana men’s 4x400m team that won gold at the 2024 World Relays.

At the World Athletics Relays, Tebogo impressed, running a sub-44 twice in just over 24 hours. Across 16 races (preliminaries, finals, and repechage of the men’s 4x400 and mixed 4x400), Tebogo had two of the three fastest splits.

The versatile sprinter uncorked a 43.72 split to put Botswana into the lead in the men’s 4x400m relay, a position that Leungo Scotch maintained on the third leg, before Bayapo Ndori took up the running on the final leg, producing a 44.13 split to carry them to victory in 2:59.11.

This was coming weeks after lowering his personal best in 400m by running 44.29 in Pretoria in March.

The sprinter’s impressive 2024 season also includes running a world lead 19.94 in 200m at the ASA Athletics Grand Prix in Johannesburg besides shattering the 300m world record in February, clocking an astonishing 30.69 at the Simbine Curro Classic.

While he has played down talks of going for a world record or even running 400m any time soon, the 20-year-old looks like Bolt and Johnson wrapped in one, given he is showing the capabilities of both sprint legends.

Johnson was a revered sprinter who became untouchable in 200m and 400m in the 1980s and 90s, winning six individual gold medals at the World Championships as well three Olympic golds.

He set the 200m world record twice, as many in the 400m indoors, and once in the 400m outdoors. He holds nine of the top 50 200m performances of all time and four of the top ten 400m performances of all time.

Bolt, meanwhile, is the undisputed king over the 100m and 200m with his world records in both distances yet to be broken since he set them at the 2009 World Championships.

The Jamaican great has seven world titles in 100m and 200m besides six Olympic gold medals in the two disciplines.

These are heights Tebogo can only dream of but he is showing great promise in 100m, 200m and 400m, something that Johnson and Bolt did not combine effectively during their days on top.

Tebogo seems to have decided to focus on 100m and 200m for now, especially heading into the Paris Olympics, but at 20, he has enough time to test himself in all three races before deciding where he will put all his focus.

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