Teenage sprint star Bayanda Walaza won the 100m at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships, while fellow countryman Bradley Nkoana claimed third place.
Bayanda Walaza powered through the race to clinch the 100m final at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Peru.Photo: Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFPWalaza stormed to the finish in 10.19 and was closely followed by Puripol Boonson of Thailand in second place with an equally impressive time of 10.22. Walaza’s countryman and pre-event favouritethat claimed the silver medal at the Paris Olympic games earlier this month. The team also included Akani Simbine and Shawn Maswanganyi.
Walaza and Nkoana's podium finish increased South Africa’s medal tally to three at the games after Shot-put star JL van Rensburg put up an impressive performance earlier in the day to win the silver medal.Before he stormed to finish line on Thursday, Walaza had made it clear that he would be taking the race seriously, adding that he wanted people to respect the sport.
“I'll tell people I'm not doing this for fun. I think other people think this is a place to play and all of that, but this is somebody else's food and other people are creating a living out of this, so we must respect this,” said Walaza.Minister of Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie took to social media platform, X, tp congratulate the the athlete.
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