Christine Mboma continued her remarkable transition over the short sprints this season after clocking 10.97 seconds to set a Namibia national senior record and African U20 record for the 100m at the Gaborone International Meet in Botswana, on Saturday (30).
The meeting is a part of the 2022 World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze series with a number of junior athletes facing their fears to take on their senior rivals.
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Mboma, who ran a wind-aided 10.90 (+2.8 m/s) in the event last month, was successful at reaching the sub-11 seconds milestone this weekend to clock the fourth-fastest time ever by a U20 sprinter.
Watch Mboma 100m national record in Gaborone
The Tokyo Olympic 200m silver medalist also flashed to a new world-leading time of 21.87 seconds to become the first U20 athlete to dip under 22.00 seconds for 200m and 11.00 seconds for 100m on the same day, according to World Athletics.
Mboma, who is making her debut season over the 100m, is rapidly establishing herself as one of the leading sprinters in the world.
“I am very impressed with my time for both my races because it’s really still the beginning of the year [so] running [those] times, I expect more,” said the Namibian sprinter.
The 18-year-old marks are certainly showing that she intends to be a real contender for both the 100m and 200m sprint titles at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA, later this summer.
Olympic 200m finalist Beatrice Masilingi, a teammate and training partner of Mboma pulled up late in the 100m.
Tebogo sets World U20 100m Record at Gaborone International Meet
Also at the Gaborone International Meet on Saturday, a world U20 record went down in the men’s 100m with Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo blasting to an impressive 9.96 seconds (1.9m/s) on home soil.
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The winning performance from the reigning World U20 champion saw him shaved 0.01 off the previous world U20 record by USA’s Trayvon Bromell in 2014.
Tebogo also became the first man from Botswana to break 10.00 seconds for 100m with the 18-year-old bettering his own NR of 10.08 secs, set at the same venue in February.
Following home the teenager was South African duo Benjamin Richardson (10.08) and Henrico Bruintjies (10.16), respectively.
Elsewhere, Clarence Munyai of South Africa took the men’s 200m with a time of 20.44 secs, beating Solomon Bockarie from The Netherlands (20.60) and Isaac Makwala of Botswana who ran 20.65.
South Africa’s Tshepo Tshite clocked 1:45.85 for first place in the men’s 800m, and Botswana’s Thalosang Tshireletso jumped a PB of 8.04m for the men’s long jump title.
