Kayla La Grange was sitting in front of the TV when she decided she wanted to be a professional athlete.
It was 2016, and what she witnessed on the screen blew her away … Wayde van Niekerk shattering the 400m world record at the Rio Olympics. La Grange was just 12 years old at the time, but her mind was made up.
“ That was when I really realised I want to do this for a living … I was like, ja, this is it for me, I want to do what he ' s doing,” explained the 21-year-old sprinter.
Van Niekerk is not the only athlete to have shaped La Grange’ s journey. Another major influence has been her own training environment at the University of Johannesburg, particularly 400m world junior champion Udeme Okon, who was also part of the squad that won gold at the 2025 World Relays and bronze at the World Athletics Championships.
“ Udeme really inspires me a lot. I think in the beginning – I never told him this, but I kind of fan-girled a bit when I came here … I think at World Relays, I was sitting in front of that TV only staring at him because I was like:‘ That guy trains where I train!’
“ He ' s just always been a very good inspiration to me, he ' s very positive, he runs very comfortably, he looks so smooth, it ' s very much something I strive to be as a runner. And he doesn ' t stress, he doesn ' t overthink, he doesn ' t get nervous. We actually just spoke about it. He runs because he enjoys the game, and that ' s what I want to be too.”
While she has drawn plenty of inspiration from the success of others, La Grange is fast building her own reputation in SA springing. In April, she stormed to victory in the 200m at the National Athletics Championships in Stellenbosch, clocking 23.37 seconds for her first senior national title. She then went on to compete in the SA 4x100m relay team alongside Viwe Jingqi, Gabriella Marais and Joviale Mbisha at the World Relays in Botswana, where the newly assembled quartet broke the 26-year-old national record.
“ This might be dramatic, but it felt like I conquered the world,” she said of winning her first senior national title.“ It really felt great. I think the last 30 meters when I saw I had it and I was feeling so much stronger, like I wasn’ t dying out, I was in disbelief of myself because I hadn’ t felt that great in a 200 since 2024. With everything that happened, it just felt like I was coming on top and whatever ' s happened doesn ' t matter anymore.”
“ Everything that happened” is what makes La Grange’ s performances this year that much more meaningful, having recovered from a career-threatening injury and returned to athletics after more than a year away from the track.
Kayla and coach Lyle Wentzel
“ 2025 did not go as planned. I tore my hamstring, I ended up getting tendinopathy in my knee, couldn ' t understand what was happening, and nothing really worked, so we just had to call the season quits and I was rehabbing for 13 to 14 months, to prevent me from getting sore again. We just kind of realised I ' m very weak in certain areas,” she explained.
During her period of rehab, La Grange made the move to train with Coach Lyle Wentzel at UJ.
While the physical rehabilitation was demanding, the mental challenge of learning to trust her body again proved even tougher.
“ It was mentally harder to wake up in the morning and tell myself I can do this, more than physically running a session,” she admitted.
“ I think in 2025 there were a lot of moments where I was like, call it quits, just do this to get it over and done with and go on with your life. But Lyle really made me fall in love with the sport again, so I don ' t think I ' ll be quitting anytime soon now.
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“ It was very, very challenging to come back from a whole year of not running and not knowing if my future is secured in athletics. I saw 10 doctors to try and get an answer on my injury and the last doctor told me that he ' s sorry, but he can ' t tell me anything, he just thinks if the pain continues, I need to stop running.”
With that ominous thought lingering in the back of her mind, La Grange sought therapy to help her navigate her return once the pain had subsided. As an industrial psychology student, she understood the mechanics of the mind better than most.
“ The therapy really did help me to believe in myself and know that I ' m stronger than what has happened and that everyone goes through challenges and everyone has injuries. I ' m not special in the sense that I can ' t come back from an injury. I can come back, it has been done before, so I just have to do it now.”
La Grange feels she is now back to her pre-injury level of 2024, when she set her personal best time of 23.36 seconds in the 200m. And according to her coach, there’ s plenty more to come.
“ Kayla is one of the most talented sprinters South Africa has to offer … I believe she can live up to the potential of representing South Africa at the world championships and Olympics in the future,” said Wentzel.
“ I believe we can get Kayla to lower to mid-22 seconds in the 200m and 11.0 in the 100m.”
Understandably, after the year she’ s been through, La Grange is reluctant to look too far ahead when it comes to long-term goals. But she has fallen right back in love with the sport again.
“ I’ ve changed my mindset a lot since having my injury. Usually, I would think five years in advance where I want to go with my athletics, but now all I wanted was to fall back in love with my running and to take it training session by training session and competition by competition. So, right now I just want to enjoy where I am and take it as it goes.”
So what is it that she loves most?
“ I like how it challenges me, but it also teaches me a lot. From dying on the grass after a lactic session, it actually teaches you a lot and makes you realise how strong you are and how much further you can push past your boundaries, capabilities and limitations.
“ I love that feeling of knowing I can go more and further and I’ m stronger. I ' m not just this moderate, average person.”
Far from average indeed.
As Coach Wentzel puts it:“ She ' s got the world of talent with a spirit of a lion. Her persistence, strength, determination and passion for the sport make her a once-in-a-generation athlete.”
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