ATHLETICS - The African Mirror

May

25

2026

Cape Town burns in colour as African runners, led by Kipchoge, turn marathon into moving festival of speed and soul

ATHLETICS

THE Cape Town sky turned gold before dawn, and by the time the first elite runners stepped onto the starting line in Green Point, the city was already vibrating with colour and noise. The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon was no longer just a race; it had become a rolling festival of African running, of mountain light, and of a continent’s pride played out on the streets of the Mother City. From the start, the route carved a story. The field threaded past the Stadium, where the first roars of the day came not from the grandstands but from the crowds…

May

23

2026

By STACEY KAKEA, BIRD STORY AGENCY

The city that wakes up running

ATHLETICS

THE parking lot at Nairobi's KOFISI Square fills up well before 7:30 on a Saturday morning. Gone are the hangover sunglasses and bleary faces suggesting a big Friday night out. The people stretching against the curb, adjusting their running watches, or just standing and chatting as the sun rises, look fresh-faced and eager. Something has been changing here. Emily Chepkor is a lawyer and an 11-time marathoner. In October 2022, she was also the person who convinced three friends to join her for a Saturday morning run. "Nairobi is a party city, a feel-good city. We wait for Friday," she…

May

08

2026

By The African Mirror

Soweto Marathon under fire as Gerda Steyn, Joseph Seutloali still unpaid

ATHLETICS

MANFRED Seidler, the Hollywood Athletics Club (HAC) manager, has reiterated that the athletes’ livelihoods are affected in the cases of prize money not being paid on time, or at all, including the case of the 2025 Soweto Marathon, where HAC’s athletes, including Gerda Steyn and Joseph Seutloali, have yet to receive their prize money. African Bank Almost six months after the 2025 edition of the Soweto Marathon, the athletes who finished on the podium have yet to be paid their prize money. This is despite the main sponsor for the 2025 edition, African Bank, confirming on their social media platform that they…

May

03

2026

By The African Mirror

ATHLETICS: Gaborone makes history as Africa hosts the world

ATHLETICS

Records have tumbled, world leads have fallen, and 48 nations have earned their Beijing tickets as Botswana writes a new chapter in global athletics. All this took place on a blazing Saturday afternoon at the Debswana World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26, where history was not just made - but celebrated, lap by lap, baton by baton, in front of a roaring home crowd that understood exactly what this moment meant. For the first time in the competition's history, the World Athletics Relays had come to Africa. And Africa delivered a spectacle worthy of the occasion. The day's drama began even…

May

03

2026

By Jovial Rantao

ATHLETICS HISTORY MADE IN GABORONE: The “Awesome Foursome” bring down the house

ATHLETICS

THE National Stadium fell silent for just a moment - the held breath of an entire nation - and then it erupted. When Collen Kebinatshipi burst free from South Africa’s Zakithi Nene on the home straight and charged across the finish line in 2:54.47, the noise that rose from Gaborone was the sound of history being made. Botswana had done it. The Awesome Foursome had delivered. In the final race of the Debswana World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26, the host nation's men's 4x400m team produced a performance so blazing in its ambition and so precise in its execution that it…

Apr

29

2026

By SIMON D. ANGUS

Kenya’s Sawe breaks the 2‑hour barrier: what’s next for the men’s marathon world record?

ATHLETICS

WELL, well. Kenyan marathon runner Sabastian Sawe has officially broken through the fabled “sub-2-hour” marathon barrier. On a reportedly perfect Sunday, 26 April 2026, in London, the 31-year-old Sawe ran through the finish gate on the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace’s gilded architectural flourishes in an official marathon time of 1 hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds. This betters the marathon world record by a whopping 65 seconds, the largest single improvement since 2018. The previous world record was held by the late Kelvin Kiptum, also of Kenya. Kiptum’s 2 hours and 35 seconds, set in Chicago in 2023,…

Apr

07

2026

By The African Mirror

Africa strikes first: Kebinatshipi blazes to world-leading 9.89s

ATHLETICS

THERE are moments in sport when a single number reshapes the entire conversation. On a searing afternoon at the Botswana National Trials, one such number was born: 9.89 seconds. That was the time Busang Collen Kebinatshipi clocked to win his heat in the men's 100 metres — a personal best, a national statement, and, most strikingly, the fastest time recorded anywhere in the world so far in 2026. The sprint had barely been run before the news was travelling across the continent and into the global athletics community: Africa was leading the world. Not on a Diamond League stage in…

Mar

16

2026

By JOVIAL RANTAO

The day the Rainbow Nation owned New York City

ATHLETICS

THE city that never sleeps rubbed its eyes on Sunday morning and found South Africa standing at the top of the world - not once, but twice. By the time the last whistle blew in Lower Manhattan and the gold medals cooled against the skin of the victors, New York had become, briefly, magnificently, a province of the Rainbow Nation. It began on the sun-warmed ribbon of asphalt that winds through the streets of Manhattan, and it ended on a patch of synthetic grass beside the Hudson River. Twenty-one point one kilometres of road running. Fourteen minutes of sevens rugby.…

Nov

04

2025

By SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Eliud Kipchoge: The king’s new quest – seven marathons, seven continents, one limitless vision

ATHLETICS

MOST legends retire to rest on their laurels. Eliud Kipchoge? He's just getting started. Fresh from his 17th-place finish at the New York City Marathon—completing his quest for the Abbott World Marathon Majors Seven Star Hall of Fame just three days before his 41st birthday—the greatest marathoner of all time unveiled a breathtaking new chapter: Eliud Kipchoge's World Tour. Over the next two years, the Kenyan icon will run seven marathons across seven continents, from the familiar roads of major cities to the frozen, unforgiving terrain of Antarctica. This isn't about breaking records anymore. This is about breaking barriers of…

Sep

22

2025

By The African Mirror

African Thunder: Dominant performances light up Tokyo

ATHLETICS

THE floodlights of Tokyo's Japan National Stadium cast an ethereal glow through the rain-soaked evening air, but nothing could dim the blazing brilliance of Africa's athletic royalty as they rewrote the script of global athletics in the most spectacular fashion imaginable. Kenya's Golden Sweep: The Queens of Distance Reign Supreme In the most audacious display of middle and long-distance dominance ever witnessed at a World Championships, Kenya's women didn't just win medals – they conquered an entire spectrum of races with the ruthless efficiency of an unstoppable force of nature. The crescendo came when 26-year-old Lilian Odira, a mother of…