Not Noah Lyles, But This 20YO Beat Usain Bolt’s World Record At Simbine Curro Classic

Promises and records are meant to be broken, and one formidable Botswanian has shown the world how. While the audience dealt with a storm of 300m, the tracks of Pretoria remained witness to a world record that was intact for 6 years, toppled mercilessly. This 2x world medalist has created indelible history at the Simbine Curro Classic Shoot-Out today by clocking an exceptional time of 30.69. 

Riding on the back of such a performance, the 20-year-old also etched his name in the history books by beating the previous world 300m record by a significant margin. This was in stark contrast to the popular anticipation of Noah Lyles getting to the feat first.

Letsile Tebogo flashes to 300m glory

When Noah Lyles broke the 200m tie clocking less than 20 seconds for the 35th time, he broke Usain Bolt’s record. Lyles went on to clinch the gold at the London 2023 Diamond League meet at 19.47. Thus, when it came to toppling Bolt in the 300m category, the consensus was that Lyles would be the one to do it. 

However, little did anyone know that the Botswana native was waiting in the shadows to pounce at the right moment. 

Tebogo’s score of 30.69 beat the earlier world record of Wayde Van Niekerk by more than one-tenth of a second. Niekerk achieved the feat of clocking 30.81 in Ostrava in June 2017, beating Michael Johnson’s 30.85. Interestingly, Tebogo’s victory means that he had also beaten the time of the legendary Usain Bolt, who clocked at 30.97 in 2010.

The Kanye native darted clean at the front and by the time he approached the first bend, the 20-year-old was already cruising. While Tebogo took the gold, Gardeo Isaacs came in second at 31.91 while Bayapo Ndori clinched the third position at a time of 31.95. 

However, this was not the only instance of Tebogo making an impact. 

Letsile Tebogo already has a glorious past at 20

The 20-year-old from Botswana has been keenly working on his progress. Once he clinched the U20 world record with a score of 9.94 in 2022, he did not relax. Tebogo subsequently bettered it not once, but twice. He clocked 9.91 in 2023 and further improved it to 9.88 at the Budapest World Championships.

Read More: Is Noah Lyles Faster Than Usain Bolt? Decoding the ‘Threepeat’ Champion’s Success

Shifting his focus from the 100m discipline, Tebogo holds the African best time in the 200m at 19.50, which he clocked in 2023, London. Apart from his 100m silver in the Worlds, Tebogo also clinched the 200m bronze at 19.81 in Budapest last year. 

Thus, with fire in his steps, Letsile Tebogo is a sure shot favorite to lighten up the tracks at the Paris Olympics, with a dream of embellishing his initials to immortality.

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