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Diamond League debut sets Orogot for Olympics
Tarsis Orogot takes off. PHOTOS/COURTESY
What you need to know:
Tarsis Orogot will be part of Team Uganda at the Paris Games. He will be the only sprinter in an athletics-heavy contingent.
In three weeks, the Paris 2024 Games will officially open with an anticipated opening ceremony at Jardins du Trocadéro with the Eiffel Tower in the background in the French capital.
While the world waits for another memorable spectacle of global sport, the top athletes are making final touches.
Tarsis Orogot will be part of Team Uganda at the Paris Games. He will be the only sprinter in an athletics-heavy contingent.
The US-based runner will luckily do final touches in the French capital this weekend when he lines-up for the men’s 200m at the Paris Diamond League (DL) on Sunday.
Orogot takes on the turn.
“It basically to prepare me for the Olympics Games start, getting my race rhythm together again after the NCAA season,” Orogot said this week.
This marks Orogot’s third attempt to run outside the US collegiate calendar since joining the University of Alabama in early 2022. “The only difference is that it's my first Diamond League race,” he added.
He ran twice in Bern, Switzerland and Huizingen, Belgium last summer before competing at the Budapest World Athletics Championships in Hungary.
Orogot, 21, is the first male Ugandan sprinter to qualify for the Olympics since Davis Kamoga won 400m bronze at the Atlanta 1996 Games in the USA.
After making the 200m semifinals during both the Oregon 2022 and Budapest 2023 editions of the Worlds, Orogot definitely desires a lane in the Olympics final in the French capital come August 8.
Orogot will be one of the seven men in that line-up at the Stade Charléty tomorrow afternoon. And a victory is possible, considering he is the fastest in the field with a season and personal best (PB) of 19.75 seconds.
His biggest challenger will be Alexander Ogando, who is the second fastest in the field with a PB of 19.19. Ogando also won a world 4x400m mixed relay gold for Dominican Republic at the Eugene 2022 show.
Orogot hits the finishline.
Ivory Coast’s Cheickna Traore is the second fastest in the field this year with 19.93. Then Italian Filippo Tortu and Swiss William Reais just won silver and bronze respectively at the European Athletics Championships in Rome, Italy early last month.
A win for Orogot will go a long way in raising confidence in his spikes before the Olympics show.
UGANDAN IN ACTION - SUNDAY
5pm: Tarsis Orogot (Men’s 200m)
2024 WORLD’S FASTEST MEN OVER 200M
19.53 seconds by Noah Lyles (USA) on Jun 29 in Eugene - Oregon, USA
19.59 seconds by Kenneth Bednarek (USA) on Jun 29 in Eugene - Oregon, USA
19.71 seconds by Courtney Lindsey (USA) on Apr 20 in Nairobi, Kenya
19.71 seconds by Letsile Tebogo (BOT) on Apr 20 in Nairobi, Kenya
19.75 seconds by Tarsis Orogot (UGA) in Gainesville - Florida, USA
OROGOT AT A GLANCE
Full Name: Tarsis Gracious Orogot
Nickname: ‘Gonya’
Date of birth: November 24, 2002
Major events: 100m and 200m
Outdoor Personal bests: 10.17 seconds (100m) and 19.90 (200m)
Coach: Blaine Wiley
Management: None
Major Honours: Uganda 100m and 200m Junior and Senior National Records, 2021 World U20 200m Finalist (4th place), 2022 200m NCAA Trophy (5th place), 2023 200m Indoor Trophy (2nd Place), 2023 200m NCAA Trophy (5th place), 2024 200m Indoor Trophy (2nd Place), 2024 200m NCAA Trophy (4th place)
FASTEST TIMES BY UGANDAN SPRINTERS
200M (BEST TIME BY ATHLETE)
19.75 seconds by Tarsis Orogot (May 11, 2024)
20.63 seconds by Moses Mila Mayat (Mar 27, 1998)
20.81 seconds by Pius Adome (Jun 4, 2017)
20.92 seconds by Ali Ngaimoko (Jul 14, 2011)
21.04 seconds by Emmanuel Tugumisirize (Apr 19, 2014)
