TRACK & FIELD
Bayanda Walaza did the sprint double in Lima
On the Double !
The recent World Under-20 Championships in Peru proved a happy hunting ground for Team South Africa , particularly in the men ’ s sprints , where Olympian Bayanda Walaza did the double and joined a very select group of global superstars . – BY SEAN FALCONER
Teenage sprinting sensation Bayanda Walaza ’ s year just keeps getting better . Having earned a spot on the South African 4x100m relay team for the Olympic Games in August , he helped his country claim a silver medal in Paris , alongside Akani Simbine , Shawn Maswanganyi and fellow under-20 sprinter Bradley Nkoana . This would probably have ranked as the highlight of his season , but it ’ s debatable whether a team silver at the Olympics can compete with two individual gold medals on the world stage .
Walaza had barely settled back in at home ( and school ) when it was time to jet off to Lima , Peru for the World Under-20 Championships , from 27 to 31
Record-sized Champs
A record number of 1700 athletes from more than 130 countries or teams participated in the 20th edition of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima , Peru , surpassing the previous participation record of 1566 , set in Barcelona , Spain in 2012 . The participants included 22 Olympians from the Paris 2024 Games , including South African sprinters Bayanda Walaza and Bradley Nkoana .
These 2024 World Champs produced four championship records and six area U20 records , while there were 10 world-leading U20 performances , 71 national U20 records and 288 personal bests set . The USA topped the medal table with 16 medals ( 8G , 4S , 4B ), with Ethiopia second on the medals table with 10 medals ( 6G , 2S , 2B ) and China third on 11 medals ( 4G , 4S , 3B ). Jamaica and Kenya took fourth and fifth place on the table , and South Africa finished sixth .
August . Here the young flyer was due to compete in both the 100m and 200m individual events , and with two barnstorming finals performances , he came away with two gold medals . He won the 100m final in 10.19 seconds , with Thailand ’ s Puripol Boonson second ( 10.22 ) and Nkoana third in 10.26 .
But more was to come . A few days later , Walaza lined up in the final of the 200m and blew the rest of the field away to claim a second gold medal in 20.52 . This gave him the coveted 100m / 200m sprint double , which only a handful of athletes at any level ever achieve . At the World Under-20 Champs , Walaza is just the fourth man to do the double , after Ato Boldon ( Trinidad and Tobago , 1992 ), Francis Obikwelu
The country with the largest contingent of athletes at these World Champs was the USA , with 100 athletes , followed by Germany ( 92 ), Australia ( 68 ), Italy ( 61 ), Spain ( 52 ) and Jamaica ( 48 ). Next was South Africa with the seventh-largest team , with 44 members . A total of 20 countries won gold medals , and 66 countries saw one or more of their athletes finish in the top eight of their events .
The South African flag was proudly flown in Lima
The next edition of the World U20 Championships takes place in Eugene , Oregon in the USA in 2026 .
( Nigeria , 1996 ) and Christian Malcolm ( Great Britain , 1998 ).
The South African is also the first to do it since the 1990s , whereas greats like Jamaica ’ s Usain Bolt ( 200m gold , 2002 ) and America ’ s Noah Lyles ( 100m gold , 2016 ) cannot claim the same achievement . Nor can Botswana ’ s Letsile Tobogo , who won gold in the 100m in both 2021 and 2022 , but had to settle for silver in the 200m in both those years . Walaza is therefore in truly great company in the echelons of global sprinting thanks to his achievement in Peru !
Still More medals
Walaza and Nkoana were not the only South Africans to come home from Lima with global medals . In a successful meeting that saw Team SA win a total of seven medals – three gold , two silver and two bronze – and end sixth on the medals table . The other
Bradley Nkoana added a bronze to his Olympic silver
Images : Enzo Santos Barreiro / World Athletics , Oscar Muñoz Badilla / World Athletics
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