Veteran coach GlenMills believes that rising sprinter Letsile Tebogo is better positioned to break Usain Bolt’s 200m world record, dismissing the chances of three-time world 200m champion Noah Lyles.
Mills explained that while Tebogo doesn’t have Bolt’s sheer speed, his strong speed endurance makes him a serious contender to shatter the record. Bolt set the 200m world record at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin with a time of 19.19 seconds. The closest anyone has come to that was Yohan Blake, who clocked 19.26 seconds at the 2011 Diamond League Meeting in Brussels. However, with Tebogo’s recent performances, Mills believes the Botswanan athlete could be the one to break the long-standing record.
“He [Tebogo] poses the biggest threat to the 200m world record. He may not have Bolt’s speed, but he certainly has the endurance,” Mills said.
Tebogo demonstrated his prowess in the 200m by outpacing both Lyles and Kenny Bednarek to win the men’s 200m title at the Paris Olympic Games, with Bednarek finishing second and Lyles third in a tightly contested race.
Mills also mentioned that Jamaican sprinter Oblique Seville’s victories over Lyles this season were not by chance, highlighting Seville as a talent to watch in future races. He expressed confidence that if Seville had been at 100%, he would have been the one to beat, adding that the lessons learned from recent races would be applied moving
forward.
