Isaac Makwala

Isaac Makwala
	Makwala in 2015
Personal information
Nationality	Botswana
Born	24 September 1985 (age 39); Tutume, Botswana
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	78 kg (172 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	200 metres, 400 metres
Club	Francistown Athletics Club
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing Botswana
Olympic Games
IAAF World Relays
Commonwealth Games
African Championships
African Games
Representing Africa
Continental Cup
	Updated on 17 September 2015

Isaac Makwala (born 24 September 1985) is a Botswana sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres.

Career

He was the gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games in 2018. He has also won continental titles at the distance, winning at the 2015 African Games and twice at the African Championships in Athletics (2012, 2014). He has represented his country Botswana at the 2016 Summer Olympics, three times at the Commonwealth Games, and five times at the World Championships in Athletics (2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017). With the Botswana 4 × 400 metres relay team he has won the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a silver medal at the 2017 IAAF World Relays and medals at the African Games and Championships.

His personal best time of 43.72, set 5 July 2015 in La Chaux-de-Fonds was an African continental record and ranks him 13th on the all-time list. He is also a sub-20 200 metres runner.

On July 14, 2017, Isaac Makwala became the first man in history to run a 200 m within 20 seconds and a 400 m within 44 seconds on the same day by running 43.92 in the 400, then 19.77 (no wind) in the 200, 2 hours and 20 minutes later at the Meeting de Atletismo Madrid.^[1]^[2]

He qualified for 400m final at the 2017 World Championships, before being withdrawn from the race, due to illness. He then qualified for the 200 m final, placing overall sixth.

He competed in the 400m at the 2020 Summer Olympics, finishing 7th in the final.

Major competitions record

Representing Botswana
Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
2007	All-Africa Games	Algiers, Algeria	17th (sf)	400 m	47.02
	All-Africa Games	Algiers, Algeria	1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:03.16
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	14th (h)	4 × 400 m relay	3:05.96
2008	African Championships	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	2nd	400 m	45.64
2008	African Championships	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	4th	4 × 400 m relay	3:06.54
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	34th (h)	400 m	46.45
2010	World Indoor Championships	Doha, Qatar	– (h)	4 × 400 m relay	DQ
	African Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	14th (sf)	400 m	46.92
	African Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:05.16
	Commonwealth Games	Melbourne, Australia	20th (sf)	400 m	47.07
	Commonwealth Games	Melbourne, Australia	5th	4 × 400 m relay	3:04.65
2011	All-Africa Games	Maputo, Mozambique	7th	400 m	46.78
2012	World Indoor Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	5th (h)	4 × 400 m relay	3:13.21 (NR)
	African Championships	Porto Novo, Benin	1st	400 m	45.25
	African Championships	Porto Novo, Benin	–	4 × 400 m relay	DQ
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	28th (h)	200 m	20.84
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	22nd (h)	4 × 400 m relay	3:05.74
2014	Commonwealth Games	Glasgow, United Kingdom	9th (sf)	400 m	45.57
	African Championships	Marrakech, Morocco	2nd	200 m	20.51
			1st	400 m	44.23
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:01.89
2015	World Relays	Nassau, Bahamas	8th	4 × 400 m relay	3:03.73
	World Championships	Beijing, China	5th	400 m	44.63
	World Championships	Beijing, China	9th (h)	4 × 400 m relay	2:59.95
	African Games	Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo	1st	400 m	44.35
	African Games	Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo	2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:00.95
2016	African Championships	Durban, South Africa	4th	400 m	46.58
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	22nd (sf)	400 m	46.60
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	5th	4 × 400 m relay	2:59.06
2017	World Relays	Nassau, Bahamas	2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:02.28
	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	6th	200 m	20.44
	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	4th (sf)	400 m	44.30¹
2018	Commonwealth Games	Gold Coast, Australia	1st	400 m	44.35
2018	Commonwealth Games	Gold Coast, Australia	1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:01.78
2019	African Games	Rabat, Morocco	8th (sf)	400 m	46.55
2021	World Relays	Chorzów, Poland	3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:04.77
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	7th	400 m	44.94
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	3rd	4 × 400 m relay	2:57.27
2022	World Championships	Eugene, United States	21st (sf)	400 m	46.04
2022	World Championships	Eugene, United States	6th	4 × 400 m relay	3:00.14

¹Did not start in the final

Personal bests

200 metres - 19.77 secs, Madrid, Spain, 14 July 2017
400 metres - 43.72 secs (#2 African all time), La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 5 July 2015.

Track records

As of 16 September 2024, Makwala holds the following track records for 200 metres and 400 metres.

200 metres

Location	Time	Windspeed m/s	Date
Madrid	19.77	0.0	14/07/2017

400 metres

Location	Time	Date
Brazzaville	44.35	15/09/2015
Gold Coast Queensland	44.35	10/04/2018
La Chaux-de-Fonds	43.72 NR	05/07/2015
Marrakesh	44.23	12/08/2014

References

^ http://resultados.rfea.es/2017/resultados/airelibre/al_madrid.pdf Archived 8 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine ^{[bare URL PDF]}
^ "Makwala achieves historic 200m-400m double in Madrid | REPORT | World Athletics".

External links

Isaac Makwala at World Athletics
Isaac Makwala at Olympics.com
Isaac Makwala at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)

[1] ttp://resultados.rfea.es/2017/resultados/airelibre/al_madrid.pdf Archived 8 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine ^{[bare URL PDF]}

[2] "Makwala achieves historic 200m-400m double in Madrid | REPORT | World Athletics".

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