It was a case of mixed fortunes for Botswana’s pair of Karabo Sibanda and Baboloki Thebe in the semis of the men’s 400m on Day 3 of the IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland.
African Championships Silver medallist Sibanda was very impressive in Heat 1, dominating the race to set a Personal Best (PB) of 45.15s at the Zawisza Stadium in Bydgoszcz. He was followed by USA’s Kahmari Montgomery (45.71s), while Anthony Zambrano and Naoki Kitadani also set PBs of 45.81s and 46.41s respectively to qualify for the final.
World Leader in the rankings, Thebe was in course to win his first World Juniors title, attacking the bend as he went down the home straight to secure victory with the 2nd fastest time in the world of 44.26s. However, the African Senior Champion was subsequently disqualified for a lane infringement, and will not compete in the final.
Instead, Qatar’s Abdelelah Haroun (45.55s) and Kazuki Matsukiyo (46.69s, PB) were upgraded to 1st and 2nd positions respectively, and will be joined in the final by Kenya’s Geoffrey Kiprotich (45.38s, PB) and Wilbert London (45.49s) who qualified from Heat 3.
Thebe would certainly look for redemption in the 4x400m relays where Botswana would be the team to beat.
