Botswana's Letsile Tebogo underlined his burgeoning talent by setting a new World Junior Record (WJR) of 9.94s in the standout performance of the men's 100m heats at the World Championships in Oregon.
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It was the perfect way to show that his National Record of 9.96s which he ran back home in Gaborone was not a fluke, with that time not being ratified as a WJR because of a 'no zero gun test performed for the timing equipment,' Tebogo was pumped and eager to make a statement.
Not only did he now run a new WJR at a major championships, he now bettered that time by two-hundredths of a second.
The 19-year old pulled away from a very strong field comprising of former World Champion, Yohan Blake who finished 2nd in 10.04s, and Canada's Aaron Brown scooping the last automatic spot in 10.06s. South Africa's Akani Simbine who was also in that race, came in 4th, which was enough to secure passage to the semis..
This will be a big confidence booster for Tebogo who has now become the first Botswana athlete, man or woman to make the 100m semis at a major championships.
Meanwhile in heat two of the men's 100m, Liberia's Emmanuel Matadi and Nigeria's Favour Ashe both went in hard in the race to secure an automatic spot. Fred Kerley was in a league of his own in that race, running the fastest time overall in 9.79s to justify his favourite tag. But the other qualification spots from that heat was equally as exciting.
Matadi out-dipped Ashe to finish 3rd in 9.99s, and the newly crowned Nigerian champion finished 4th in a flat 10.00s, his second fastest time ever, and it was enough to qualify for the semis.
Ashe's compatriot, Raymond Ekevwo also booked his spot in the semis, edging out an automatic 3rd place in heat 1 with a time of 10.17s. Ekevwo was lucky, because he clocked an identical time as Cejhae Greene who was adjudged but didn't go through.
Perhaps the most emotional story of the Championships so far, will be how Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala went straight to the stadium from the airport to compete in heat 7 of men's 100m, and although he was visibly fatigued from the long flight, he still qualified to the semis after finishing third in 10.10s
Arthur Cisse is another African athlete who has had to shake off a visa disappointment this week, arriving late. However the Ivorian, made easy work of the stress that he has been through, coming in second in a Season' Best of 10.02s behind Trayvon Bromell who won the race in 9.89s.
Seven African athletes will be competing in the semifinals of men's 100m on Saturday, a huge advertisement for the continent that they could challenge some of the world's best stars in sprinting.
By Charles Jerome