Kebinatshipi: ‘This was just the start’

“Trust me,” says Collen Kebinatshipi. “This was just the start of an era of Collen. My plan is just to dominate for the longest period possible.”

Whatever about the future, the 22-year-old Motswana, who blazed to the world 400m title in Tokyo last year in 43.53, has been utterly dominant this year – going six for six at Diamond League meetings and setting a national record of 43.40 at the Diamond League Final in Brussels.

Which brought him to the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest high on confidence, where Kebinatshipi was the overwhelming favourite for the men’s 400m. In many races this year, he had saved his energy for the latter half of the one-lap race but, this time, he changed things up.

“I just decided I should go all out and see where it would end,” he says.

He left the blocks in explosive fashion, ripping through the first 100m in 10.61, reaching 200m in 20.67 and 300m in a blazing 31.37, leaving a slew of global medallists trailing far behind.

How fast would he go?

43.39, another national record, which handed him the Ultimate trophy and $150,000 in prize money.

Kebinatshipi blacked out not long after the race and had to spend several minutes recuperating in a wheelchair. The 400m can do that, especially when you run it as he did.

“It’s normal,” he says. “I know every time I push my body, it’s like that. The plan was to give everything, leave everything on the track.”

He did just that, crowning a season of consistent excellence. There were his two 9.89-second 100m clockings on home turf in Gaborone back in April, his three national 400m records, and Kebinatshipi also helped Botswana to victory in the men’s 4x400m at the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, clocking an African record of 2:54.47.

“I need to go home and recover,” he says. “I didn’t want to mess up because this is my last race, I didn’t want to leave anything in the tank and now I have nothing in the tank.

“It’s a special thing to keep the [winning] streak alive until the end of the season. It was such an amazing season and it’s a big boost heading towards next year. I just want to make sure I stay healthy until the World Championships.”

It’s been a steep ascent in recent years, but Kebinatshipi’s talent has been clear for a long time. He took up athletics in primary school. “I was just doing it for fun,” he says.

In 2019, he met his current coach, Chilume ‘Chippa’ Ntshwarang, at a competition and they started working together. It’s proven a hugely successful relationship. He trains alongside Lee Eppie, a 44.40 athlete who joined Kebinatshipi on the team that won the men’s 4x400m world title in Tokyo last year.

In 2020, he and his coach decided to focus more on the 400m. “Even though I was scared of it,” says Kebinatshipi, “but coach maybe saw something I didn’t see.”

In 2022, he lowered his PB to 45.40 at the age of 18 and reached the world U20 400m final. In 2023, he won gold at the African U20 Championships in 44.91 and reached the world semi-final in Budapest. In 2024, he became an Olympian in Paris, narrowly missing the 400m final and helping Botswana to Olympic silver in the 4x400m.

But things truly clicked in 2025.

Kebinatshipi overcame a scare in his 400m heat at the World Championships in Tokyo, where he finished only fourth in 44.48, but he blazed to victory in his semi-final in a national record of 43.61. In the final, he ran 43.53 to claim his first global gold.

“Last year’s win opened a lot of doors for me but that was just the beginning, because this year was about putting my name up there and showing people who I am and what I’m capable of,” he says. “My coach told me to come here and try a new race plan.”

It might have been a very different approach in Budapest, but it worked as well as ever, Kebinatshipi finishing a whopping 0.76 seconds ahead of runner-up Rai Benjamin. He said the world record was not in his mind at the Ultimate Championship, given the fatigue of the previous day’s semi-final was still in his legs.

“The championship itself deserves such challenges,” he says. “Because it’s big money, and big challenges.”

However, Wayde van Niekerk’s mark of 43.03 is certainly a long-term goal.

“I would be lying if I say no – the world record is obviously always running in my mind. The world record talk will be on the table maybe in LA (at the 2028 Olympics).

“The calculations based on training, we’re always (doing), like if I go 20.9 in the first 200m and then go 22.0 or 22.1, it’s going to give us a 42.9. But it’s not easy. I’m still a bit lighter, I’m not doing a lot of gym but as time goes, when I start engaging the body in more constant work I think I will manage (the world record), but for now, no pressure.”

With his season complete, Kebinatshipi plans to take a long break, which he will spend at home in Botswana, where he breeds boerboel dogs on a 10-acre farm.

“I have eight of them at the moment and I have been missing them since May,” he says. “I am going to go back home, spend all my prize money on them. Unfortunately, they are not as fast as I am – they have big muscles and cannot keep up with me.”

Still only 22, Kebinatshipi believes he has “10, 11 years in this track life” left and all options are on the table about his specialist events.

“If we achieve what we want, maybe run under 43 before the next five years, it’d give us another window to try another event,” he says. “Once I accomplish it, in less than five years, I’m going to move to the 200m and after achieving what I want, I can skip again, go to the 800m.”

Whatever way he goes, the era of Collen Kebinatshipi looks built to last.

Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics