Letsile Tebogo scorches to Rome Diamond League 100m win
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Letsile Tebogo of Botswana celebrates after winning the men's 100m race at the Rome Diamond League on Aug 30.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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ROME – Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo was not happy with finishing sixth in the 100m final of the Paris Olympics, and he got over that setback by outstripping Christian Coleman to win in impressive style at the Diamond League meeting in Rome on Aug 30.
Tebogo, the newly crowned Olympic 200m champion, clocked 9.87 seconds for the victory, with the 21-year-old having eased up and looked over at his rivals well before the finish line.
“This was one of my best 100m races,” he said. “Today I had a great start and it made me think ‘Why did I not have one like this in the Olympic final?’”
Coleman, who failed to make the US team for the Paris Games, came in second in 9.92sec, with Paris bronze medallist Fred Kerley third again (9.95sec).
Home favourite Marcell Jacobs, who won a shock gold in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021 and came in fifth in Paris, looked to be struggling as he finished ninth and last in 10.20sec.
“Tonight I could not run faster than that,” the Italian said. “The race was not how I wanted it to be and I also did not want to risk an injury.
“I am not happy about this result, but it was really great to run here in Rome, in front of this wonderful home crowd.”
A high-quality field at the Stadio Olimpico, already host to a memorable European Championships in June when Jacobs retained his continental 100m crown, promised a couple of world records.
But it proved not to be on the night.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, who became the first woman to win three consecutive Olympic 1,500m titles in Paris, triumphed in 3min 52.89sec.
That might have been faster, and closer to her own 3:49.04 world record, had it not been for botched pace setting.
“The world record was not for today with the Olympics only two weeks ago,” Kipyegon said.
Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi went within a whisper of setting a world mark in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, running the second-fastest time ever.
The Kenya-born runner clocked an electric 8:44.39, a faltering jump off the last hurdle meaning she finished just seven-hundredths of a second off Beatrice Chepkoech’s record set back in 2018.
“I looked at the time after the race and I went ‘Oh, no!’” said Yavi, who won gold in Paris in an Olympic-record 8:52.76.
“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.” AFP
