As the clock ticks towards the Budapest World Athletics Championships, with less than 500 days to go, the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) is in a race to appoint national team coaches.

There is speculation that revered coach, Justice Dipeba might not continue in his role as head coach. It is said the association is eyeing Dipeba’s assistant, Kebonyemodisa ‘Dose’ Mosimanyane to take over. Former Under-20 coach, Chilume Chippa Ntshwarang will take over as senior team assistant coach, according to sources. The two coaches have athletes who have qualified for the World Athletics Championships.

“Mostly coaches are given a chance to coach the team when their athletes have qualified. As we speak, Dipeba’s athletes are struggling to break even, the likes of Christine Botlogetswe,” the source said.

Mosimanyane has Letsile Tebogo, Bayapo Ndori and Leungo Scotch while Ntshwarang coaches Collen Kebinatshipi. The men’s 4x400m relay team also booked a slot in Budapest, Hungary during the Oregon 2022 World Athletics Championships.

The World Athletics Council postponed the World Athletics relays Guangzhou 23 scheduled for May 13-14 to April 2025. The postponement triggered a new relay qualification process for Budapest. The decision to delay the World Athletics relays impacted the qualification system for the relay events at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.

The first eight placed teams at the World Athletics Championships Oregon 22 have qualified. The men’s 4x400m relay teams are the USA, Jamaica, Belgium, Japan, Trinidad and Tobago, Botswana, France and the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, 400m hurdlers, Kemorena Tisang and Victor Ntweng, are ranked number 31 and 32 out of 40 qualifiers on the road to Budapest. The two hurdlers need a few high-level competitions to maintain or improve their rankings and for the first time, Botswana might send a hurdler to the World Athletics Championships.

The Botswana mixed 4x400m relay team is ranked 15 out of 16 teams.

BAA vice president-technical, Kenneth Kikwe said plans are underway to appoint coaches.

“We have not set a deadline for the process to be concluded. We want to see which direction the qualifiers for the World Athletics Championships take. The plan is underway,” he said.

The Debswana National Championships over the weekend saw athletes miss an opportunity to secure a ticket to Budapest.

Sprint sensation, Tsaone Sebele who wants to qualify in the women’s 100m, was 0.2 seconds shy. She stopped the clock at 11.28 against 11.08, which is the qualification standard.

Thapelo Monaiwa stands a chance of qualifying through rankings. He leapt to 7.79m during the National Championships, 13cm away from hitting the 8.25m needed to punch the Budapest ticket. The 400m national champion, Anthony Pesela is closing in on the 400m flat qualification after he registered 45.77 against the 45.00 mark.

Baboloki Thebe made a strong comeback during the National Championships clocking 45.66, the fastest time he has posted since 2021.