Botswana's Letsile Tebogo elated after breaking Wayde van Niekerk's 300m world record

• Botswana sprinter Letsile Tebogo stormed to a world 300m best of 30.69 in Pretoria on Saturday.
• This saw him break the world record that was held by South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk.
• Van Niekerk ran 30.81 in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in 2017.
• For more sports news, go to the News24 Sport front page.

Botswana's Letsile Tebogo was over the moon when he broke the world 300m record at the Simbine Curro Classic Shoot-Out in Pretoria over the weekend.

The 20-year-old sprinter ran a time of 30.69, taking more than a 10th of a second off the previous world best of 30.81 set by South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on 28 June 2017.

Before Van Niekerk's heroics in 2017, the 300m world record belonged to American Michael Johnson, who clocked 30.85 in 2000, also in Pretoria. The fourth athlete to have dipped under 31 seconds for the discipline is Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, who ran 30.97 in 2010.

Speaking afterwards on the track, Tebogo said he was honoured to have broken Van Niekerk's record.

"He's a brother to me. We share the good vibes. There's no bad energy between us," he said, as quoted by the Olympic Games' official website.

"Thank you for always pushing me and telling me not to belittle myself. Thank you so much, mate."

On Saturday, Tebogo won by more than a second ahead of South Africa's Gardeo Isaacs (31.91), while Botswana's Bayapo Ndori finished third in 31.95.

According to World Athletics, Tebogo also set a world U20 100m record of 9.94 at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in 2022 and then improved that mark to 9.91 to retain his world U20 title in Cali the following month.

He has since improved his national 100m record to 9.88, achieved when securing silver at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, while his 200m best of 19.50, set in London last year, is the African record.

Alongside his world 100m silver in Budapest, Tebogo claimed 200m bronze in 19.81.