Noah Lyles, Letsile Tebogo, and Zharnel Hughes produced record-breaking performances in the men's 200m event at the London Diamond League. Tebogo smashed a long-standing African Record, which propelled him as one of the fastest men in history.
Letsile Tebogo produced one of the outstanding performances at the London Diamond League after running a blistering new African Record (AR) in the 200m.
The Botswanan clocked an outstanding lifetime best of 19.50s for a second-place finish behind world champion Noah Lyles in a world-leading 19.47s, and obliterated Namibia's Frankie Fredericks's long-standing AR of 19.68s set at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.
Tebogo, running from lane 8, ran a decent curve to stay with the rest of the field. Unbelievably, his last 50m did the magic as he outran British champion and 100m record holder Zharnel Hugues to almost catching up with Lyles at the finish line.
Hughes, who settled for third, smashed John Regis British record of 19.94s, , which stood since 1993 with a blistering new 19.73s. He now owns the 100m (9.83s) and 200m national records, confirming the form he's headed to the World Championships in Budapest.
For Tebogo, his time in London has propelled him from being an underdog to a medal contender as he's now one of the fastest men in history.
21:26 - 30.11.2022
Meet Letsile Tebogo - the rising track star tipped as the next Usain Bolt
Botswana's Letsile Tebogo is ticking all the right boxes of being the next Usain Bolt in terms of performances, but he has got a rival to watch out for in Erriyon Knighton.
In the past nine days, the World U20 Record holder has clocked a 400m Personal Best (PB) of 44.75s, a 100m Season's Best of 9.93s, and now a 200m PB of 19.50s.
With Erriyon Knighton and Nigeria's Udodi Onwuzurike still in the mix, the men's 200m event in Budapest will surely be a fire cracker.