World Athletics Championships 2025: Africa’s sprint ‘pirate’ who celebrates like Viktor Gyokeres

Eseme’s season so far has been mixed, having missed the indoor campaign through injury.

He then recorded top-six finishes in the opening four 100m races of the Diamond League calendar, clocking a season’s best of 9.99 seconds in Rome, just short of his personal best time of 9.96secs.

In July, he recorded a new national record in the 200m, but injury has again curtailed his ability to race properly since that point.

“I’ve been training, though not in full force,” he admitted.

“But I still have goals for Tokyo. I want to represent my country as best as I can.”

Having suffered with injuries and visa issues around other global showpiece events, he admits that he has found it tough to deal with the setbacks.

“I was really affected,” he said, before also confessing that he worries people will think “he is just faking it because he’s scared”.

Someone who might offer support is South African sprinter Akani Simbine, the former African 100m record holder who has agonisingly finished fourth in the past two Olympic finals.

“Sometimes, when I have some doubts, he’s always there to [say] ‘OK, this is how it works’,” revealed Eseme.

“He’s the one who held my hand and showed me the way things happen in the athletics.”

Simbine did win a silver medal at last year’s Games in Paris as part of South Africa’s 4x100m relay team, a feat matched by Botswana in the men’s 4x400m.

With 10 African men reaching the semi-finals of the 100m in Paris – including Letsile Tebogo, who would go on to win 200m gold, Eseme is convinced African sprinting is on the rise.

“I believe Africa is going to take over,” he said.

“With everything that’s happening with Tebogo, Akani, we are seeing that it’s possible to achieve all those things.”

And despite his age, Eseme believes he can be part of the revolution.

“A lot of my opponents have been doing this sport for 15 years. I’ve been doing track and field for eight years,” he said.

“I may not be young, but in terms of the work the other athletes have undergone, the work their muscles have undergone, I believe my muscles are still fresh and I’m still growing progressively.

“The Jamaicans, Americans, South Africans, they are not from space. They are not super-humans.

“If they are able to do it, I believe I am able to do it too.”