A storm may have passed, but Letsile Tebogo isn’t one to crumble. The Olympic gold medalist and sprinter from Botswana was shocked by his second-place finish in the ASA Grand Prix in Pretoria. A name synonymous with electrifying finishes and unmatched speed, Tebogo found himself trailing behind his Motswana counterpart. But if there’s one thing history has shown, it’s that setbacks fuel champions. Can Tebogo prove this to be true?

After the setback at Pretoria, the Botswana sprinter is all geared up for the next 400 m meet. Tebogo seems excited, as he posted on X, “NeXT Melbourne 🇦🇺. Hope you all are ready, because we are 🧡🐅.” While the ASA Grand Prix second position will work as a test of his resilience in the coming event, Tebogo will surely look to shine in Melbourne. He will compete in 400 m on March 29, 2025, at the Maurie Plant Meet.

A few days ago, the sprinting star even expressed his excitement for the Maurie Plant Meet: “I will be stepping up to the challenge of the 400 m. Starting the season with this long-distance challenge will set the stage for what’s ahead.” One setback can’t decide the worth of an athlete, right? The road to redemption is in front of Tebogo and he is all geared up to shine on the track again.

Coming back to his last race, Botswana sprinter Letsile Tebogo was placed second at the Athletic South Africa Grand Prix on March 12, with a clock time of 45.42 seconds. And guess who won the race with a 0.83-second margin? Motswana champ Bayapo Ndori, who clinched the first place by clocking out in 44.59s, and third position? Well, it was South African sprinter Zakithi Nene.

But Tebogo isn’t dwelling on the loss. Instead, he’s charging ahead with bigger goals. After the Melbourne Meet, what’s next? Next month, he’s set to compete in the 100m at the Xiamen and Keqiao Diamond League meets in China, where he’ll look to let his “legs do the talking.”

With many accolades, like clinching the first-ever Olympic gold for Botswana and the World Athletics of the Year 2024 title, and many more, Tebogo has proved his dominance on the track, and not to forget, he even defeated track star Noah Lyles at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yep, you read it correctly. The Botswana sprinter finished the 200 m in just 19.46 seconds, leaving Lyles in third.

And if his history is any proof, it’s that resilience has taken him a long way. So much so that now he stands as a source of inspiration for the youth in Africa.

Letsile Tebogo is making Africa proud

Though Tebogo as an athlete prefers silence, he has caused quite the uproar. He has become a thundering inspiration for the new age sprinters in Botswana and across the entirety of the continent. At the young age of 21, the Olympian also wants to be an example for the sprinters looking to making a name for themselves.

He said, “Every step that you do, you have to think beyond that one step that you want to take for yourself because everybody is watching what you are doing. So you’ve got to make sure that you pave the right way for the stars coming up.”

But it doesn’t stop there. As we all know that his performance in the Paris Olympics has helped spotlight Africa in a way that has never been done before, he wishes for the more sporting events to take place in Africa. And an example of this is the upcoming Dakar 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games. “It shows that Africa has got great potential to host big events,” he said of the Dakar Games. “And it would be nicer if we could take some of the big championships to be hosted in Africa. 

Given the fact that he has raised the expectations around him so much, he will undoubtedly look to build on his performance. With his sights firmly set on future victories, the young sprinter is gearing up for a fierce comeback. Are you excited for Letsile Tebogo’s Melbourne race? That’s because we surely are!