All Bow Down: Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to headline Maurie Plant Meet - Melbourne

One of the hottest names in global athletics is bound for the Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne, with Olympic champion sprinter Letsile Tebogo set to bring unrivalled speed and style to Lakeside Stadium on March 29.

Confirming his start for the first World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet of 2025, Botswana’s first-ever Olympic champion will continue his meteoric rise when contesting the 400m in Australia.

Tebogo blazed his way to a dominant Olympic 200m victory in Paris when stopping the clock in 19.46-seconds – making him the fifth fastest man in history. Now jetting down under, the 21-year-old sprint king will headline a cast of international stars who will light up the night with Australia’s biggest names.

“I’m excited to compete for the very first time in Australia and open my 2025 season at the Maurie Plant Meet as the Olympic 200m champion,” Tebogo said.

“I’m looking forward to the electric support of the Australian crowd, let's make it a race to remember!”

Crowned World Athletics’ Male Athlete of the Year in 2024, Tebogo also owns a 9.86-second personal best over 100m and the fastest 300m time in history at 30.69-seconds, but it is the 400m in which he will stretch his iconic stride in Melbourne.

Michael Johnson’s gold medal run of 43.84-seconds at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games remains the best time ever clocked on Australian soil over the distance, but Tebogo is no stranger to history. After a scintillating anchor leg in the Men’s 4x400m Relay in Paris assisted Botswana to Olympic silver, the limitless sprinter is ready to enter new territory in Melbourne.

“I will be stepping up to the challenge of the 400m. Starting the season with this long-distance challenge will set the stage for what’s ahead. I’m ready to push my limits and make every moment count,” Tebogo said.

Joining Tebogo are Olympic teammates Bayapo Ndori, Leungo Scotch and Victor Ntweng, with Ndori a 44.10-second man over 400m who alongside Tebogo won Olympic silver in the Men’s 4x400m Relay.

A World Championships silver medallist over 100m and bronze medallist over 200m in 2023, Tebogo has established himself as one of the world’s most consistent and feared sprinters since bursting onto the scene with 100m World Under 20 titles in 2021 and 2022.

Tebogo’s arrival at the 2025 Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne adds to a growing list of stars to have come since the meet’s first instalment in 2023, including 100m world champion Fred Kerley (2023), Olympic champion long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall (2023) and 1500m world champion Jake Wightman (2024).

The 2025 Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne is the first of 13 World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meets this year, sitting just under the Diamond League in status. Oceania’s only Gold Level meet is supported by the Victorian Government through its Significant Sporting Events Program and conducted within Athletics Australia’s Chemist Warehouse Australian Summer of Athletics.

Early bird tickets are available for a discounted price until 11:59pm AEDT Sunday, January 19. Tickets can be purchased HERE. 

LETSILE TEBOGO (BOTSWANA) – BIO

• Reigning 200m Olympic champion (Paris 2024)
• Olympic silver medallist in the Men’s 4x400m (Paris 2024)
• 2024 World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year
• World Championships silver medallist in the 100m (Budapest 2023)
• World Championships bronze medallist in the 200m (Budapest 2023)
• 6 x Diamond League meeting winner
• 2 x World Under 20 champion in the 100m (Cali 2022, Nairobi 2021)
• 2 x World Under 20 silver medallist in the 200m (Cali 2022, Nairobi 2021)
• Personal bests of 9.86 (100m), 19.46 (200m) and 44.29 (400m)
• The fifth fastest man in history in the 200m
• Fastest 300m time in history (30.69)
• DOB 7 June 2003 (21-years-old)

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted 14/01/2025