Letsile Tebogo: Why the Olympic 200m Champion Is Playing the Long Game in 2025

Letsile Tebogo was happy with his third place in Shanghai.

Letsile Tebogo: Why the Olympic 200m Champion Is Playing the Long Game in 2025

Abigael Wafula 15:45 - 02.05.2025

Letsile Tebogo is taking a strategic approach to the 2025 season as he builds toward peak performance at the World Championships in Tokyo.

Letsile Tebogo will be taking the long route to victory in the 2025 season as he looks to improve the medals he won in 2023 at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

Tebogo won a silver in the 100m and a bronze in the 200m at the global championship in Budapest, Hungary and plans to change that when he steps foot in the stadium in Tokyo.

To achieve the honours, Letsile Tebogo is taking a different approach in his training, focusing on long-term victory rather than short-term gains.

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He started his season on home soil, competing in the 400m at the BAA Track And Field Series 2, and despite feeling unwell, he finished second.

Letsile Tebogo would then win the 400m at the ACNW League 6 before finishing second at the ASA Grand Prix 1 and Maurie Plant Meet.

He made his season debut in the 200m at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix before finishing seventh at the Diamond League Meeting in Xiamen.

Letsile Tebogo’s season preparations

Letsile Tebogo
Letsile Tebogo

The world 100m silver medallist revealed that the 100m races at the start of the season are purely for getting ready for the World Championships.

Letsile Tebogo revealed that running the 400m at the start of the season was helpful in terms of helping him gain endurance, and now going back in training, he will be looking to work on his speed.

Once he addresses the speed and endurance aspects, the world 200m bronze medallist believes he will be the one to beat.

“We are still doing the endurance and just introducing speed now with these 100m of the season. we are building up speed with these Diamond Leagues going into this season because that’s the initial plan,” Letsile Tebogo said in a pre-race press conference ahead of the Diamond League Meeting in Shanghai.

“We are just using the endurance and speed from the 400m, and we took everything into the 100m and see how we are going to perform.

“I believe after this Diamond League, I will go back to the drawing board and introduce more speed into our sessions and almost go all out until September.”

Letsile Tebogo’s experience in China

Letsile Tebogo
Letsile Tebogo

So far, Letsile Tebogo has not explored China as he explained that the only focus he had was addressing all the issues he had in his first 100m of the season.

He revealed that he has only been spending time with his friends in the room and training, adding that he is ready to make a mark in the race on Saturday.

“I don’t have any experiences because I’m always in the hotel room just chilling with the boys. The week that I have been here, I was just working to improve on everything that went wrong last week,” he said.

“I believe everything is up to date as of now, and I just want to see how everything will go, but the body is feeling good.”

In the men’s 100m in Shanghai, Letsile Tebogo will be up against Olympic 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson, the fastest man in the world in 2025, Akani Simbine, Ferdinand Omanyala and World Indoor champion Jeremiah Azu.