In his latest appearance on Sunday, Tshite again showed promise over longer distances by winning the Hollywoodbets 10km race in Durban.
Tshepo Tshite at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Picture: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
Having made a successful step up to the 1,500m distance, Tshepo Tshite wants to go even further, and he looks to be on track to make a more permanent move to the 5,000m event.
A former 800m specialist, Tshite represented South Africa over two laps at the World Championships in 2019 and 2022.
In 2023, however, he began to focus on the metric mile. Since then he has competed over 1,500m at the 2023 and 2025 editions of the World Championships (progressing to the final in Tokyo last year) as well as the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
In addition, he earned a silver medal at the African Athletics Championships in Ghana earlier this year and reached the final at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month.
Most notably, over the last few years he has broken national records in the 1,500m event (3:31.35) on the international outdoor circuit, as well as the SA indoor records in the 1,500m (3:35.06), mile (3:54.10) and 3,000m (7:36.90) short track events on the indoor circuit.
Going further
This season he has shown potential over longer distances as well, setting a 5,000m personal best of 13:20.92 on the track at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo and a 10km career best of 28:09 on the road at the Absa Run Your City race in Gqeberha.
Over the weekend, Tshite launched a late kick to win the Hollywoodbets 10km race in Durban in 28:18.
And while he was not yet willing to commit to a permanent move up from the 1,500m event on the track, he felt if he could keep improving over longer distances he might set his eyes on the 5,000m races at next year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“I’ve been trying to understand the 5,000m, and the faster I can run 10km, the better I will be in the 5,000m,” said 29-year-old Tshite, who is coached by Samuel Sepeng.
“Already I know I have the advantage of speed. That’s why I’ve been trying to master 10km. I know once I get that sub-28 (over 10km) my 5,000m will be much better and I’ll be able to run that distance at the World Championships or the Olympics.”
