Athletics-Tebogo's double sprint bid falters at Rabat Diamond League
FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Olympics - Athletics - Men's 200m Final - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France - August 08, 2024. Letsile Tebogo of Botswana reacts after winning gold. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File photo
RABAT (Reuters) - Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo's Diamond League sprint double bid fell apart on Sunday as he finished last in the 100 metres and retired from the 200 at the Rabat meet.
Botswana's Tebogo clocked 10.43 seconds, with South Africa's Akani Simbine winning the 100m race in 9.95, his third Diamond League victory of the season.
Tebogo, who won 200m gold at the Paris Olympics, had told reporters on Saturday that it was the first time he had doubled up at the Diamond League and he was expecting it to be a good night.
However, 70 minutes after his 100m race, Tebogo did not even start in the 200m and American Courtney Lindsey, who finished second in Doha last month, claimed his first victory of the season with a time of 20.04 seconds.
In the men's 800 metres, Botswana's Tshepiso Masalela celebrated his 26th birthday in style, dominating the race to win in a world-leading 1:42.70, comfortably ahead of Britain's Max Burgin in second and Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya in third.
American Jacory Patterson produced a late surge to edge South Africa's Zakithi Nene and win the men's 400 metres in 44.37 seconds.
Another American who produced a thrilling finish was 28-year-old Jonah Koech, knocking six seconds off his personal best to win the men's 1500m in 3:31.43, setting a meeting record.
IMPRESSIVE CHEBET RUNS SOLO
Kenyan Beatrice Chebet ran almost alone to win the women's 3000 metres in 8:11.56 – the second fastest time in history behind Wang Junxia's 8:06.11 in 1993.
"I am so, so happy. I wasn't trying to set a world record. I just came to run my personal best, and that's what I did," Chebet told reporters, adding the record might come "after a few months or years".
Netherlands' Femke Bol set a new meeting record in the women's 400m hurdles, winning unchallenged in 52.46 seconds.
Jamaican Shericka Jackson also turned up the heat in the women's 100 metres, running 11.04 seconds for her first win of 2025 after overcoming a slow start to beat U.S. pair Maia McCoy and Jacious Sears.
In the women's 800 metres, Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma edged out South Africa's Prudence Sekgodiso by a tenth of a second, finishing in 1:57.42 to take the victory.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City; Editing by Toby Davis)
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