Walaza makes history as first South African to win World U20 100m gold
Bayanda Walaza, a member of the South African 4x100m team that won a silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics has made history as the first South African to win the World Athletics U20 Championships 100m gold.
The 18-year-old ran 10.19 and held back a surging Puripol Boonson of Thailand to cross the finish line first while his compatriot and pre-Championships’ favourite,
Bradley Nkoana, who was also in the silver medal winning 4x100m team at the Olympics finished third in 10.26
The closest the South African has come to winning the 100m gold at this level was Benji Richardson’s silver medal finish two years ago in Cali behind Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo who successfully defended the title he won a year earlier in Kenya.
Courtesy of Walaza, South Africa has now become the third African nation after Nigeria (1990, 1994 and 1996) and Botswana (2021 and 2022).
Walaza will now turn his focus to the 200m event which starts on Thursday as he will now be bidding to become the second African after Nigeria’s Francis Obikwelu (1996) to successfully complete a sprint double at the Championships.
