Lausanne Diamond League 2023: Letsile Tebogo takes men's 200m as De Grasse continues to seek season breakthrough
Botswana's youngster impresses with first career Diamond League victory against a field packed with Tokyo 2020 finalists.
Athletics
Botswana's Letsile Tebogo started June by celebrating his 20th birthday and finished it with his first Diamond League victory in the men's 200m on Friday (30 June).
At Lausanne's Atletissima 2023, last year's World U20 Championships silver medallist ran 20.01 to get the better of Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards (20.11) with Liberia's Joseph Fahnbulleh (20.21) in third place.
After a fast start, Canada’s Aaron Brown faded into fifth place behind Reynier Mena of Cuba with Olympic champion Andre De Grasse back in sixth.
Tebogo said afterwards, "It felt great tonight. You have to trust the process and then everything will fall into place just as it's supposed to be.
"This was my second time here in Lausanne, there is really a special feel. The crowd is unbelieveable. Last year I was third, so I performed much better this year."
Tebogo and Mena were the only two athletes in the field to break 20 seconds this season, and his smooth bend in lane seven helped him move past Brown into the lead with Richards chasing him in lane eight.
De Grasse: Still on hunt for breakthrough result
Running in lane three, De Grasse quickly fell behind and finished almost a second off his personal best. His time of 20.57 in Lausanne was also 0.24 down on his season's best.
While sixth in Lausanne may not sound encouraging, the 28-year-old had stated after running in Oslo earlier this month - where he finished in fifth place - that he was content with his racing and using each opportunity to develop a rhythm after a year of injury.
The Olympic champion will race in the men's 100m on Sunday (2 July) at the Stockholm Diamond League meet in Stockholm.
“I am feeling confident,” De Grasse told Canadian Running. “I’m not expecting to have the result I had in 2017 (9.69), but I want to put together a sub-10-second performance Sunday.”
Lausanne Diamond League 2023 - Men's 200m results
1. Letsile Tebogo (BOT) - 20.01
2. Jereem Richards (TTO) - 20.11
3. Joseph Fahnbulleh (USA) - 20.21
4. Reynier Mena (CUB) - 20.24
5. Aaron Brown (CAN) - 20.44
6. Andre De Grasse (CAN) - 20.57
7. William Reais (SUI) - 20.91
8. Taymir Burnet (NED) - 21.30
Read the recap of the Lausanne Diamond League meeting here.