Tebogo’s successful season ends
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday September 18, 2023 16:00
The sprinter showed discomfort at the beginning of the start-studded race only to limp to the finish line holding his left thigh. An end of the season which saw the athlete sweeping almost all awards on offer in Botswana, attention now shifts to Paris 2024.
The race was claimed by American sprinter and former World champion, Christian Coleman with a World Leading (WL) time of 9.83 seconds. The current world champion, Noah Lyles and African record holder, Ferdinand Omanyala finished tied at 9.85 seconds for second and third positions respectively.
Prior to the Diamond League race, Tebogo was a marvel to watch going pound to pound with Lyles in Budapest, to win a silver medal in 9.88 seconds. He went on snatch a bronze medal in the 200m in his first season as a senior athlete. According to information reaching Sport Monitor, Tebogo’s injury at the Diamond League was minor but he had to slow down to avoid worsening the situation. During the World Athletics Championships, Tebogo had to deal with another injury. Athletics national team massage therapist, Kabo Molefe told Sport Monitor that the Diamond League race injury could be related to the Budapest one. He noted that it means the injury has not fully recovered. “It also depends on what they were doing to rehabilitate the injury to prepare for the Diamond League final.
The other issue is that after the Budapest injury, we did an ultrasound scan on him, we established that he had a muscle strain and an old injury, which he picked during one of the races before the World Athletics Championships. When injuries are not properly rehabilitated, they reappear and the old injuries would have formed a scar tissue,” he said. Molefe said Tebogo should be given enough time to do proper rehabilitation and do conditioning which is very important at senior level.
He said all along Tebogo has been using his natural muscle strength, but 100m is an aggressive race which needs him to be powerful, strong and endurance muscles especially hamstrings. The going was tough for Leungo Scotch in the men’s 400m final as he finished in position six stopping the clock in 45.18 seconds. Kirani James of Grenada reclaimed the top spot after a dismal performance in Budapest, winning the race in 44.30 seconds, which is his Season’s Best (SB). Quincy Hall of the USA settled for the second spot in 44.44 seconds with another American, Vernon Norwood finishing third in 44.61 seconds.