Tebogo not in a hurry to break Usain Bolt’s 19.19 200m world record
African sprint sensation and history maker, Letsile Tebogo is not in a hurry to challenge the 19.19 world record Usain Bolt ran to win his first world title at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany.
The 21-year-old does not also want to put the pressure on himself as he prepares to continue the winning spree he started at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and which has seen him claim wins at the Lausanne and Silesia Diamond League meetings.
In Paris, he ran 19.46 to not only set a new African record and win Africa’s first ever Olympic gold in the event, he also raced into history books as the fifth fastest man of all time.
He jumped above USA’s Erriyon Knighton who ran 19.49 in 2022.
In Lausanne, Tebogo ran 19.64 to win and even slower in Silesia where he ran 19.82 to set a new meeting record.
The Botswana star will be at the Golden Gala in Rome to run in the 100m but has already booked his ticket to the Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium where he may attempt the world record.
Asked post-race in Silesia if he would be going for the world record, the two-time world U20 champion says he cannot say when the record will fall, if it will fall.
‘I cannot put a time frame or date to when I can break the 200m world record. If I do that, it will mean putting myself under pressure. It will come when the weather is good and… let’s see what happens in Brussels,’ said Tebogo.
