Kutlo Motseta
7th April 2025
On the 12th April 2025, Botswana will be hosting its second World Athletics Continental Tour competition in Gaborone, Botswana at the National Stadium.
It is a prestigious event and will draw world record holders, Olympic and world champions as well as a host of elite athletes.
The annual series consists of 12 events, which will conclude in China on the 7th September 2025. It is held across all continents except for South America.
The competition provides an opportunity for athletes to face world class athletes outside their own countries, compete before global sports supporters and qualify for the World Championships to be held on the 13 – 21st September in Tokyo, Japan.
Botswana is one of only two African countries that hosts the meeting, the other is Kenya.
The line-up includes the who’s who of world athletics, namely, Letsile Tebogo (Bots – 200m Olympic Champion), Wade van Niekerk (RSA – world record holder & 400m Olympic, World Champion), Delilha Mohamed (USA – former world record holder, Olympic and world champion), Marie Josee Ta Lou (Cote d’Ivoire – 3 x World Champion medallist).
It also includes Andre de Grasse (Canda – multiple Olympic and World Champion), Akani Simbine (RSA – world indoor champion Bronze medalist), Ferdinand Omanyala (Kenya – African 100m record holder), Leonardo Fabri (Italy – world champion silver medallist) and many others.
There will be lots of expectation in the 100m as Omanyala, Simbine and De Grasse amongst others dual it out. Botswana own global sprint superstar Letsile Tebogo, will compete in his first 200m race of the year. Whilst the nation will look out for some of its Paris 2024 Olympic 400m relay heroes, namely, Bayapo Ndroi and Leungo Scotch who will face the world in the nation’s blue-ribbon race, the 400m.
Ndori, Tebogo and Scotch came first to third in that order, in the 400m at the opening meeting for the 2025 World Continental Tour at the Mauri Plant Meet in Melbourne, Australia on the 29th March 2025.
Botswana’s first World Continental Tour event in 2023, was successful and similarly drew a sizeable excited audience as the athletes produced world class times.
This included Omanyala who ran the 100m in 9.78 seconds in a field which produced five sub 10.1 seconds finishes, Letsile who ran a then personal best of 19.87 seconds in the 400m and Samukonga Muzala who ran the 400m in 43.91 seconds and five 8m long jump performances. These are times that can win Olympic gold depending on the year.
