- She is second on the women’s 400m Diamond League standings
- Fastest lady in 400m in Botswana this year
TLOTLO KEBINAKGABO
Local 400m sensation Christine Botlogetswe continued to prove why she is one of the best 400m athletes in Botswana when she clocked a new personal best (PB) of 50.48s in the Rabat Diamond League meet held in Morocco this past Sunday.
She has clipped 0.41 from her previous career best of 50.89s which she attained last year. The Rakops born athlete’s new PB is also her new seasonal best (SB) and the fastest time to be recorded by a local female athlete in the 400m category this year. Her Rabat performance also puts her second on the 400m Diamond League qualification table with 12 points, to attain the time Botlogetswe finished before renowned athletes like Francis Phyllis and Jaide Sterpter both of USA.
Speaking in an interview with Gazette Sport, Botlogetswe’s coach Justice Dipeba said the time clocked by the athlete is due to hard work and belief. “We work as a team and we do believe that we got it right. We are going to keep pushing because she is very focused, positive and she wants to do well in every race,” said Dipeba.
In analysing the race, Dipeba noted that it was a tough race mostly considering the athletes that were in the line up. “I told her to attack right from the beginning and she did that very well as I know that she can hold on in the last 100m I told her to go out aggressively and make sure that she is at the 300m on good time, she had Naser and Phyllis behind so she had to keep up with them,” he said. “She just had to make sure that she attacks right from the blocks.”
Coming to the Rabat Diamond League meet, Botlogetswe had attained 51.17s during the memorial Leon Buyle meet staged in Oordegem, Belgium earlier this month. Before that, the 23 year old athlete registered 51.29s to qualify for the IAAF World Championships and Tokyo 2020 Olympics during the IAAF Diamond League held in Shanghai, China late last month. Prior to the China Diamond league meet, Botlogetswe recorded 52.17s during the Gaborone International Meet which took place in Gaborone late April, this is before she clocked 52.23s on her 400m seasons opener at the South African Grand Prix.