Letsile Tebogo Breaks World Junior 100m Record, Celebrating Before He Had Even Finished, Usain Bolt Reacts

Athletics has been looking for the next huge superstar to fill Usain Bolt's shoes and it may have found the right person, in the shape of Letsile Tebogo.

The 19-year-old from Botswana has been previously been referred to as 'the next Usain Bolt,' and with his fast times and celebrations it's easy to see why.

In April, Tebogo broke Trayvon Bromell's under 20 world record for the 100m, that had previously been standing for eight years, when he ran 9.96 seconds.

He beat that time when running 0.02 seconds quicker during the heats at the World Championships at Eugene last month, but didn't end up making the final.

On Tuesday, the teenager broke his own world record once again, running the 100m in just 9.91 seconds during the final of the World Athletics U20 Championships.

Tebogo might have run even faster but the end of the race was extremely Bolt, as he looked to his closest competitor to celebrate meters before the finish line.

The winner turned to runner up Bouwahjgie Nkrumie, from Jamaica, to wag his finger at the man who was quite far behind him, causing some to criticise the 'antics.'

Speaking after the race, the winner explained his celebration, saying, "The statement was to come out and enjoy the race.

"If somebody took it as disrespect, I’m really sorry.

"I saw the fans and (it was so) everybody watching at home can enjoy the race – to remind them a little bit about what Usain Bolt did back in the days.

"He’s my idol – the person I look up to."

And it seems the three time 100m Olympic champion was watching and was impressed, with the 'senior' world record holder commenting on a social media post of the celebration with lightning bolt emojis.

Bolt's own times at the 100ms as a youngster were not of note as he mainly concentrated on the 200m as a youngster, and he was actually thought of moving up to 400m.

In the end he became dominant at both the shortest two sprint distances, but Tebogo already has a head start, could he be the man to beat the 9.58 seconds that the Jamaican legend ran in 2009?

Featured Image Credit: World Athletics

Topics: Usain Bolt, Athletics

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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