ATHLETICS NEWS - Tlotliso Gift Leotlela, the 18-year-old sprint sensation, lived up to his billing as the top Junior Sprinter in South Africa when he scorched to a record-equalling 10.12sec win in the men's 100m at the second and final Varsity Athletics meet held under near perfect conditions at the University of Pretoria Grounds on Friday, 31 March.
The highly anticipated match-up between Leotlela and training partner Thando Roto unfortunately did not take place as Roto withdrew as a precautionary measure after experiencing a slight niggle in training. That though did not stop Leotlela from screaming away from the field at the Varsity Athletics meeting to equal his SA junior record of 10.12sec.
Leotlela first broke the seven-year-old SA record of Akani Simbine of 10.19sec when he clocked 10.12sec at the provincial championships a fortnight ago. On Friday his technique was near perfect as he blitzed the field to win by a margin of almost half a second over Keenan Michau -also from Tuks. Michau was timed at 10.56sec.
"I was happy with all the phases of my race except the final 10m,” said Leotlela. "My season so far has been really good and I'm looking forward to the SA Junior Championships (7/8 April) in Cape Town to defend my title."
