Kebinatshipi clocks 9.89 at Botswana Championships | REPORT

World 400m champion Collen Kebinatshipi displayed his dash versatility at the Botswana Championships in Gaborone on Friday (3) by stepping all the way down to the 100m and clocking 9.89 – twice.

The 22-year-old, who received 400m and 4x400m gold at the World Championships final yr, has began 2026 with a quick give attention to shorter dash distances. A number of weeks after clocking a wind-assisted 9.75 over 100m, I lined up for a similar occasion at the Botswana Championships and sped to a 9.89 (0.8m/s) clocking within the semi-finals.

About 5 hours later, he ran one other 9.89 (1.2m/s) to win the ultimate, ending nicely away from Gaodiraone Lobatlamang (10.21). Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo had lined up for the heats however withdrew as a result of an damage.

“I’ve been focusing more on the 400m in training, but I’ve been using the 100m to sharpen up my speed,” stated Kebinatshipi, who ran 44.55 in his first 400m race of the yr two weeks in the past. “I’m happy with the time, this is what I’ve been preparing for.”

Kebinatshipi moved to tenth on the world all-time record when he set a nationwide report of 43.53 to win the world 400m title in Tokyo final yr. He now joins Wayde van Niekerk, Michael Norman and Fred Kerley as the one males in historical past to interrupt 44 seconds for 400m and 10 seconds for 100m.