Letsile Tebogo has acknowledged Gout Gout’s talent and expressed interest in a potential future showdown.
Letsile Tebogo has agreed to a potential showdown in the 200m against Australian teen sprint sensation Gout Gout.
The duo will be competing this weekend at the Maurie Plant Classic, the first World Athletics Continental Tour Gold fixture of 2025.
However, they will not clash since Gout Gout has signed up for the 200m while Tebogo will be competing in the 400m.
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Gout Gout competed at last year’s meet where he finished fifth in the 200m, clocking an impressive 21.39 seconds to cross the finish line.
Letsile Tebogo on competing against Gout Gout
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Now after dominating the headlines, Letsile Tebogo now wants to see how a race between himself and Gout Gout would go.
Tebogo lauded the youngster, noting that he is undeniably ‘the next big thing’ owing to his massive talent and style of running that is out of this world.
“It’s a great step up for him to come into the sport and show his great potential. His style of running is top notch and I believe he is going to be the next big thing in the continent,” Letsile Tebogo said in a pre-race press conference.
“Yeah, definitely I’ll be back here, in Australia,” Letsile Tebogo added when asked whether he would be down for a potential showdown against the 17-year-old.
Letsile Tebogo on running the last 400m of the season at Melbourne
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The reigning Olympic 200m champion noted that the 400m race would be his last since there are a few things his coach wants to address.
He explained that the final 100m in his 200m races has been a problem and his coach wants to address that before he officially starts his 2025 season.
Tebogo noted that a personal best time would be a win for him and a reason to finally be confident in executing his 200m races.
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Letsile Tebogo’s 400m personal best time stands at 44.29 seconds, a time he clocked at the 2023 ASA Athletics Grand Prix 2.
“It’s exciting to do it in front of thousands of people watching apart from the Olympics, and also there is something that we are looking at before we step down to the 200m,” Letsile Tebogo shared.
“We want to make sure we fix the last 100m in the 200m. This will be our last 400m of the season. Probably just going for another personal best time because that’s how I’ll be able to leave the 400m this season.
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“Once we go for the personal best, then I’ll know we’ll be done for the season. I’ll just be waiting for the World Relays and the World Championships.”
Letsile Tebogo on his stay in Australia
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The world 100m silver medallist added that he is enjoying his stay in Australia so far and it has always been one of the destinations where he wanted to compete.
Letsile Tebogo added that in 2022, at the World Under-20 Championships in Cali, California, he met a friend who encouraged him to visit Australia.
“It’s been a long time coming, I think I met Nick sometime in 2022 in Cali, and we talked about how my coming to Australia is going to happen. I’m happy it happened and Australia so far is good and everybody in my team is happy to be here,” Tebogo revealed.
The 2025 season is quite long and Letsile Tebogo has already laid out a plan, competing in a series of Diamond League Meetings with the main goal being to triumph at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.