20 Jun 2018

After failing to click at the IAAF 57^th Ostrava Golden Spike World in the Czech Republic last week, Botswana’s Baboloki Thebe is expected to redeem his pride at the IAAF World Challenge in Madrid tomorrow.

  Thebe will have to get the plan correct and give his supporters something to celebrate given that he started the season on a bad footing finishing fifth with a time of 45.58 during the Doha Diamond League in May.

In the Czech Republic, he finished seventh, stopping the clock at 46.53.

He will share the track in the 400 metres with Dominican Luguelin Santos, Bahraini Ali Abbas, the Borlee brothers Jonathan and Kevin from Belgium, Costa Rican Nery Brenes, Mark Sanchez, Manuel Guijarro and Alberto Gavalda from Spain.

On paper, Thebe is the strongest in the field and on a good day he is capable of showing his class.

This season he is always let down by his last 100 metres, something that he should concentrate on during training.

In his last competitive race, Thebe gave his all in the first 300 metres, making it difficult for him to survive the last quarter as he did not conserve any energy to finish the race.

Thebe, who is currently in Italy, said he was prepared for the Madrid Challenge, adding that he had been training to rectify his mistakes.

He said he had been working on his speed because they had realised that his finishing technique was not helping him.

Despite not performing well in his last two competitive races, Thebe is confident that with time he would find his rhythm.

“I am happy that I have acclimatised to the weather here, it is summer this side and it is favourable for us athletes. What I can say is that my body is responding well, and I am looking forward to the race,” he said. ENDS