13 Apr 2026

The Road to the Botswana Golden Grand Prix (BGGP) has lived up to its expectation and has given the organiser the opportunity to identify which areas to work on before the main event.

BGGP will be held at the National Stadium on April 26, and top athletes like Olympic Champion Gabby Thomas, Canadians Andre De Grasse and Jerome Blake,  Kenyans Ferdinand Omanyala, Mark Otieno, Isaac Omurwa and South Africans Bradley Nkoana, Wayde Van Niekerk who will be competing in the 200 metres men category have confirmed.

Therefore, the organisers’ mission is to host a seamless event that will enable them re-claim their golden status and ultimately be given the rights to host a Diamond League Meeting for the first time in Southern Africa.

Not only did the pre-event give them a sign post, but it produced good times, as most of the athletes improved their Personal Best time.

BGGP spokesperson Calistus Kolantsho said they were happy with how things turned up, adding that although they were more focused on areas such as officiating, marketing, protocol and media, the athletes came to the party and spiced up the event.

He said on April 26, their intention would be to give Batswana a quality event, despite the fact that it would be a silver one.

“But being a silver event doesn’t change our plans, and we are happy that top athletes have confirmed. That alone will help us to achieve our goal of being considered to host a gold event, which we are also good at,” he said.

He said the pre-event had taught them a lot of things amongst them, being on time in starting their different events and that athletes should also know the importance of arriving on time at the call rooms.

“Yes we had challenges and the pre-event was meant to unearth those challenges, learn and correct and it has helped us, and we are going to put our best foot forward,” he said. ENDS