Despite his failure to meet Olympic qualification standards, long distance runner Mike Tebulo has vowed to improve on his 2010 Commonwealth Games show as he runs in the marathon at the London Games today (Sunday).
In India two years ago, Tebulo finished the 42.2-kilometre race in 2:18:31 hours, but during the Olympic qualifiers in Botswana, he clocked 2:20:23 hours, missing the 2:18:00 hours qualifying time by two minutes.
In an interview from London on Friday, Tebulo said he is determined to pass the standard time.
“I have worked hard in the past two months and I have improved a lot. So I can assure Malawians that I will beat the standard time,” he said.
He admitted that he is under pressure to beat his record after his teammates beat theirs.
Swimmer Joyce Tafatatha broke her 50 metres free-style record by 0.87 seconds, wining a heat in 27:74 seconds whereas England-based runner Ambwene Simkonda also surpassed her 400 metres record by 12 seconds, after clocking 54:20 seconds.
“I must say I am really feeling the pressure to match what my colleagues have done, so I have worked hard and I am really looking forward to also doing well,” said Tebulo.
He will be among 110 runners in the race to take place in the Olympic marathon street.
Ethiopian Ayele Abshere holds the event’s world record of 2:04:23 hours whereas Kenyan Samuel Wanjinu holds the Olympic record of 2:06:32 hours.
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