Walaza and Nkoana on fire on Day 1 of the World u20 Championship
South Africa’s two junior sprinting prodigies, Bayanda Walaza (Curro Hazeldean) and Bradley Nkoana (a former pupil of Potchefstroom Boys’ High) set the track on fire during the opening day of the World u20 Championship in Lima, Peru.
Both will be in action during the 100m final of the championship. Walaza booked his place in the final by winning his semi-final in 10.33 seconds.
Nkoana came second in his semi-final in 10.30 seconds. Puripol Boonson (Thailand) who won this semi-final crossed the finish line also in 10.30 seconds.
Nkoana qualified for the semi-final with the fastest time during all eight heats. He won his heat in 10.27 seconds. Walaza also won his heat in a quickfire 10.28 seconds. Both athletes already have an Olympic silver medal at home after bagging it earlier this year in Paris as part of the South African 4×100 relay team.
Their time of 37.57 seconds during the Olympics was also a new African record.
Nkoana should be the favourite to secure a gold medal in Lima as he set a new South African u20 record earlier this year in Switzerland with a time of 10.03 seconds.
JL van Rensburg, former pupil from Noordheuwel, bagged South Africa’s first medal in Lima. He shot a personal best of 20.74 metres in the final to finish second by only two centimetres to Jarno van Daalen (Netherlands, 20.76m).
He also achieved a personal best with his best attempt during the qualifying rounds with a distance of 20.01 metres before shattering that in the final.
Hencu Lamberts (formerly from Affies) also made it to the final round with a personal best of 19m. In the final his best attempt landed on 18.38m.
Charl Greyling missed out on a spot for the final of the hammer throw with an attempt of 65.13m. The former learner from Witteberg in Bethlehem finished 24th in the qualifying round. His best-ever attempt in this item was a throw of 69.58m earlier this year.
In the javelin, Ewald Jansen (59.22m) didn’t have his best day at the office.
Ethan Olivier, who attended Overvaal in Vereeniging, qualified for the men’s triple jump final with the leading distance of 17.01m. He also represented his adopted country, New Zealand, at the Olympic Games earlier this year.
