South Africa’s sprinting prodigy Bayanda Walaza continued his meteoric rise, setting a national Under-20 record and becoming the joint fifth fastest junior athlete ever in the world over 100 metres on Saturday (16 March).
The Olympic 4x100m relay silver medallist became only the ninth South African to dip below 10 seconds, clocking a 9.99 seconds to win the Gauteng North Provincial championships. The 19-year-old Walaza chopped 0.04 seconds off the previous record of 10.03, held by Bradley Nkoana.
Known for his unorthodox running style, Walaza appears to have come of age on the track following a breakthrough in 2024, which included winning Olympic silver and the 100-200m double at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima.
Walaza beat Australian phenom Gout Goutto claim the 200m title at the age-group championships. The duo has since been embroiled in a battle for the title of the most exciting sprinting prospect.
Gout clocked a blistering 200m time to take the Under-20 200m title at the Queensland Athletics Championships 2025 in Brisbane on Sunday. The 17-year-old clocked 20.05 seconds, just 0.01 seconds shy of his national senior record over the half-lap sprint.
Between Gout and Walaza, they hold the fastest times over the 200m and 100m this season, although it is still very early in the year, with the rest of the world focussed on indoors athletics.
Walaza opened his campaign with a statement run in February posting the 11thfastest time by a junior athlete over 60m, crossing the line in 6.58 seconds at a meeting in Pretoria, South Africa.
The South African first burst onto the scene in 2024 when he blitzed a 10.13 seconds at the South African junior championships, before finishing second behind Akani Simbine at the senior nationals.
With his sub-10-second run, Walaza demonstrated that he is no longer just a promising youngster but a serious threat at a senior level.
