LETSILE TEBOGO CELEBRATES AWAY WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT, AS SPRINTERS SHINE WITH LIGHTNING-FAST PERFORMANCES AT THE SIMBINE CURRO CLASSIC SHOOTOUT.
Sprinters stole the show on Saturday, with local and international athletes delivering some superb results at the Curro Simbine Classic Shootout meeting held at Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria.
Letsile Tebogo of Botswana showed his opponents a clean pair of heels, rocketing around the track to win the men’s 300m race in 31.52 seconds. Holding a significant lead, Tebogo played it up for the crowd down the home straight, and while he produced a spectacular performance, he could have gone even quicker had he pushed through to the line. He was 0.71 outside the world best of 30.81 held by South African star Wayde van Niekerk, and just 0.08 outside the Botswana national best of 31.44 held by Isaac Makwala.
Tebogo finished well ahead of world junior 400m champion Lythe Pillay, who secured the runner-up spot in 32.08 in his first season as a senior athlete.
Namibian teenager Beatrice Masilingi was equally dominant in the women’s 300m race. Masilingi stormed over the line to win in 34.60, shattering the Namibian national best over the distance (38.08) which had been held by Ane Rautenbach. She was less than half a second outside the world best of 34.14 which was set by German athlete Marita Kock more than 37 years ago.
The 19-year-old sprinter completed the race nearly two seconds ahead of South African 400m champion Miranda Coetzee, who finished second in 36.48.
Meanwhile, national 100m record holders Akani Simbine and Carina Horn had no trouble charging to victory in the men’s and women’s 60m races. Simbine blitzed to an impressive season-opening triumph in 6.53 seconds, with Rivaldo Roberts (6.62) holding off a challenge from Thapelo Monaiwa (6.63) to grab second place.
Horn also impressed with her result in the early stages of the 2023 campaign, taking the win in 7.30. Kayla Murray took second position in the women’s short sprint in 7.48 and Boipelo Tshemese was third in 7.51.
While the winners dominated their events in the sprints, there were some tight contests in the middle-distance races. Edmund du Plessis won a tactical battle in the men’s 1 000m race in 2:20.07 after breaking clear of Tuks teammates James Seeliger (2:20.46) and Abednico Choba (2:21.00).The women’s 1 000m race was also closely contested, eventually coming down to a two-horse battle. Simonay Weitsz took the win in 2:46.44, edging out Charne Swart (2:46.72) as they finished well clear of the rest of the field.
Photo Credit @ Cecilia van Bers
