In many ways, Letsile Tebogo championed African sprinting in 2024, an Olympic year that perhaps helped usher in a new wave of the continent’s next-generation sprinters on the global stage.
The 2025 season built on that momentum. Part 2 of our countdown highlights five men who made their mark, from rising stars to established champions, each leaving their imprint with unforgettable performances on African sprinting history.
5. Ezekiel Nathaniel
Ezekiel Nathaniel turned Olympic disappointment into one of the finest 400m hurdles breakthrough seasons in recent memory. The Baylor standout was unrelenting across both the 400m flat and hurdles, ending the year as the fourth-best 400m hurdler globally and the highest-ranked Nigerian male in World Athletics history.
Indoors, Nathaniel demolished the African 400m Record with a staggering 44.74s, making him the 8th fastest man ever over the distance. He claimed the Big 12 indoor title and narrowly missed the NCAA crown, setting the tone for a strong outdoor campaign.
Outdoors, he shattered the Nigerian 400m hurdles record six times, improving from 47.90s to 47.11s, with four of those coming during the NCAA season. He also captured the Big 12 Outdoor title, where he broke 48s for the first time, and further upgraded his 2023 and 2024 NCAA Bronze medals to GOLD with yet another record-setting run in Eugene.
At the World Championships in Tokyo, Nathaniel reached the 400m hurdles final, becoming the first Nigerian man to do so since 1987. He clocked 47.11s for a 4th-place finish in arguably the deepest final in history, cementing his place among the all-time greats as the 10th fastest man in history.
4. Zakithi Nene
Zakithi Nene emerged as South Africa’s brightest 400m star in 2025, turning years of promise into tangible results. Not new to global competitions, he had represented his country since 2021, but this year was his breakout campaign as an individual.
He began the year quietly but made a statement at the South African National Championships in Potchefstroom, smashing his PB with a 44.22s run. That momentum carried into the 2025 World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, where he helped South Africa claim GOLD in the 4x400m with a National Record (NR) of 2:57.50, a mark that also stood as the World Lead (WL) for the season.
Nene’s crowning moment came at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, where he ran a stunning 43.76s to win the 400m and move into the top 20 on the all-time list. He was now firmly a big contender for the world title, come September.
He maintained that form through the Diamond League circuit, consistently finishing in the top three, and capped off his season at the World Championships by making his first 400m final, placing 5th, and anchoring South Africa to 4x400m relay Bronze, their only medal at the event.
3. Letsile Tebogo
Letsile Tebogo remained Africa’s top 100/200m sprinter, despite a season disturbed by injury. Following his Olympic GOLD-winning performance in Paris, Tebogo started the year with 400m races as usual, winning all except for a single defeat to teammate Bayapo Ndori.
Shifting focus back to shorter distances, he attempted a 100m/200m double at the Rabat Diamond League but pulled up mid-race, later revealing he had been nursing an injury. Over a month on the sidelines followed, threatening to derail a season filled with expectations.
His return was spectacular: Tebogo ran a WL of 19.76s at the Prefontaine Classic and repeated the time at the Diamond League Final, finishing 2nd. While his 100m times hovered around 10.0s, he dipped to 9.94s to reach the World Championships final.
In dramatic fashion, he was disqualified for a false start in the 100m final but came back in the 200m to finish 4th in 19.65s, the fastest non-podium time in World Championships history. He then ran the 3rd leg on Botswana’s GOLD-winning men’s 4x400m, Africa’s first-ever World Championships title in the event.
2. Bayapo Ndori
To sum up Bayapo Ndori’s 2025 season, it was a study in highs, lows, and ultimate redemption. He began the year in fine form, winning races at home and abroad while competing on the World Athletics Continental Tour and Diamond League, only for the season to take a dramatic turn in May at the Rabat Diamond League when he pulled up mid-race with a hamstring injury.
Sidelined for nearly two months, Ndori’s return was careful. His early outings after the injury included an 8th-place finish in Brussels before he regained competitive sharpness to finish 2nd at the Diamond League Final in Zurich.
At the World Championships, Ndori was in peak form. He won his 400m heat and semifinal decisively before claiming Bronze in the final with 44.20s, inspired by his countryman Collen Kebinatshipi’s performance.
The story didn’t end there. Ndori helped Botswana to historic GOLD in the men’s 4x400m relay in torrential rain, dethroning the United States and making Botswana the first African nation to ever win the event!
1. Busang Collen Kebinatshipi
Busang Collen Kebinatshipi’s 2025 season was the stuff of legend. After narrowly missing the 400m final in Paris and claiming Olympic relay Silver, he returned with renewed focus, zeroing in on the 200m and setting a PB of 20.08s while winning the National Championship.
Internationally, however, his podium finishes were limited to several 3rd-place results at meets in Xiamen, Keqiao and Rome.
Going solely infact by his 400m heat at the World Championships in Tokyo, his performance wasn’t exactly screaming winner as he finished 4th behind a highly-favoured Jacory Patterson who had been flying all year.
But in the semifinal, Kebinatshipi transformed, exploding to a massive PB of 43.61s, breaking Isaac Makwala’s NR of 43.72s and becoming the 10th fastest man in history.
The final was a triumph: he ran even faster to claim GOLD in 43.53s, becoming the first Motswana man to win a World Championship 400m title and the second youngest ever after Kirani James.
He capped the season by anchoring Botswana to another historic GOLD in the men’s 4x400m relay, making them the first African nation to claim the event and cementing his legacy as one of the continent’s all-time sprinting greats.
