Botswana’s duo of Baboloki Thebe and teammate, Karabo Sibanda were in impressive form on Day 2 of the ongoing IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland, with both athletes advancing to the semis of the men’s 400m.
Thebe comes to the competition with a Season’s Best (SB) of 44.22s, and is ranked No.4 in the world in the senior category, and No.1 in the Junior rankings.
Thebe and Sibanda stunned their older counterpart, Isaac Makwala to win GOLD and Silver respectively at the African Senior Championships in Durban last month, and they will be looking forward to replicating the same feat in Bydgoszcz.
They both opened their campaign on a good note, winning their respective heats to qualify for the next round. Thebe won Heat 3 in 46.25s, finishing ahead of Dominican Republic’s Luis Charles (47.09s) and Japan’s Naoki Kitadani (47.32s).
Sibanda on the other hand dominated Heat 6 after clocking a time of 46.34s. He was followed by Jamal Walton (46.83s) and Iván Núñez (46.96s) of Mexico.
Another African who impressed was Kenya’s Geoffrey Kiprotich who posted the fastest time overall in the heats, taking the win in Heat 1 with a Personal Best (PB) of 46.23s. USA’s Wilbert London and Bahrain’s Moussa Ali Issa followed in 2nd and 3rd in 47.23s and 47.39s respectively.
Reigning World Youth Champion Christopher Taylor (46.73s) of Jamaica was the man to beat in Heat 2. Heats 3 and 5 were won by Qatar’s Abdalelah Haroun (46.51s) and USA’s Kahmari Montgomery (46.46s) respectively.
Big up Afrika!!