World Athlete of the Year Letsile Tebogo won the men’s 200m race at the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix meeting in Gaborone on Saturday.
Fellow countrymen Bayapo Ndori, Oratile Nowe, and Kethobogile Haingura also secured victories during the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event at the National Stadium, whilst Akani Simbine from South Africa won the men’s 100m, and Dalilah Muhammad from the USA won the women’s 400m hurdles.
Making his 200m season debut, Tebogo ran alongside South Africa’s Luxolo Adams around the curve. The African record-holder, who recorded 19.46 to win his Olympic 200m title in Paris last year, cruised down the home stretch to win in 20.23 (-1.6m/s), with Adams second in 20.42.
South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile won the men’s 200m B race in 20.01 (-1.8m/s) while 17-year-old Hanna Hope Vermaak won the women’s 100m in 11.44 (-0.2m/s), matching compatriot and runner-up Viwe Jingqi.
Simbine, fresh from winning 60m bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, returned to win the men’s 100m. Despite pressure from Kenya’s African record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala, Simbine clocked 9.90 into a -1.4m/s headwind, the fastest 100m time this year. Omanyala finished second in 10.00 secs.
Former world record-holder Muhammad won the 400m hurdles in 53.81 secs, ahead of American Cassandra Tate, second in 55.59. South Africa’s Njabulo Mbatha won the men’s 400m hurdles race in 49.06.
In the men’s 400m event, Olympic medalist Bayapo Ndori swept home in 44.35, his second-fastest time, beating South Africa’s Zakithi Nene. Egypt’s Bassant Hemida set a national record of 50.77 in the women’s 400m, ahead of South Africa’s Miranda Coetzee‘s 51.10.
Botswana’s Oratile Nowe made history in the women’s 800m, setting a national record of 1:58.96 after pulling away from Kenya’s Sarah Moraa. In the men’s 800m, Kethobogile Haingura clocked 1:44.18 to lead a Botswana 1-2 finish ahead of compatriot Tshepiso Masalela‘s 1:44.77.
Two-time African gold medallist Hailemariyam Amare won the men’s 3000m steeplechase in 8:28.00, leading Ethiopian teammates Milkesse Fekadu (8:28.67) and Demelash Girma (8:29.67).
World indoor champion Claire Bryant won the long jump with 6.79m, while Karmen Fouche took second with 6.51m. USA’s Marquis Dendy won the men’s event with 7.94m.
South Africa’s Olympic silver medallist Jo-Ane van Dyk won the women’s javelin with 61.23m while Italians Zane Weir and Leonardo Fabbri dominated the shot put with 20.83m and 20.64m.