15 Aug 2016

Karabo Sibanda produced a brave fight to finish in position five in the 400 metres final at the Rio Olympic Games in the early hours of yesterday (August 15).

Sibanda recorded a personal best of 44.25 seconds in a race that featured the crème de la crème of atheletics such as South African Wayde van Niekerk, Kiran James of Grenada and LaShawn Merritt of USA.

Sibanda, who was an underdog, showed the world that he could be a force to be reckoned with in the near future

The 18-year-old kicked in hard in the last 50 metres and passed Ali Khamis of Bahrain, Bralon Taplin of Grenada, and Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain to settle for position five.

In an interview, Sibanda said he enjoyed the race because he was not under any pressure.

He said lining up against great athletes in the final was a motivation on itself, hence managing to set a new personal best.

Athletics analyst, Billy Tambula, said Sibanda handled the race with a lot of maturity from the inside lane, which is not always easy.

He said the young athlete managed his race well and was able to keep up with the tried and tested.

“Despite being pitted against the world’s best three in Wayde, Kiran and LaShwan, Karabo didn’t freeze.  Instead he managed to get his tactics right by taking the first bend and the back straight at a steady (but) high speed without draining all the energy he had,” Tambula said.

Tambula said Sibanda had always been a big stage boy even from his youth days, but this time he had a completely different approach compared to the Youth Championships final in Poland.

“You could not even tell that he was the youngest athlete (in the final) let alone that he was the least experienced,” he said.

Van Niekerk won the 400m final with a world record of 43.03 thus breaking US sprinter, Michael Johnson’s 19-year-old world record. 

Second position went to James with 43.76, while Merritt settled for third with 43.85. ENDS