Botswana’s Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo triumphed in the men’s 100m at the Golden Gala 2024 – Rome Diamond League meeting on Friday.
The 21-year-old, who finished sixth in the Olympic 100m final in a national record of 9.86 seconds, cruised across the finish line in 9.87 (+0.3) after easing off with 15m to go to glance back at his competitors.
Former world champions Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley of the United States placed second and third, clocking 9.92 and 9.95 respectively.
Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala was seventh in 10.08 as home favourite and Tokyo Olympic Games champion Marcell Jacobs finished ninth in 10.20.
“This was one of my best 100 metre races. Before this, I imagined what the perfect race over 100 would look like. You have to lock in into your mind and then it can happen,” said Tebogo after the race.
“Today I had a great start and it made me think ´Why did I not have one like this in the Olympic final´?
“I actually did not plan to set a PB today. I remember how my body felt after the last time I ran a 9.8. It was hard to come back from that to run the 200 the next day in Paris.
“I still have more races coming up and I did not want to get injured before Zurich,” he added.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent set a world-leading national record of 12.24 seconds.
Kenya’s World and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon won the women’s 1500m in 3:52.89, followed home by Ethiopians Freweyni Hailu and Birke Haylom in 3:54.16 and 3:54.79 respectively.
“I am satisfied with the pace and with how the race went,” Kipyegon said. “It was all about qualifying for the Diamond League final, about getting the points. I enjoyed the race, but I did not see the time.”
“I believe in having strong bonds with other sprinters. We compete against each other, but we all do the same thing and we should stick together.” Letsile Tebogo
World and Olympic champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain recorded the second-fastest time ever in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, finishing in 9:44.39.
Uganda’s 2021 Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai, who took silver behind Yavi in Paris, was second again in a national record of 8:48.03.
“I looked at the time after the race and I went, ‘oh, no!’,” said Yavi, who won the gold medal in an Olympic record at Paris 2024.
“I was really expecting that record and I was going for it. I definitely feel I should break it and I believe it will happen.”
