South Africa’s most talented young athletes will compete at the three-day ASA U16, U18, U20 and U23 Track and Field Championships starting in Cape Town on Thursday.
We take a look at five athletes to watch at the annual domestic age group showpiece.
Bayanda Walaza
At this point, Walaza shouldn’t need an introduction, but we’ll give him one anyway.
Last season, he won the 100m and 200m titles at the World Athletics U20 Championships – the first person to achieve the feat since 1998 – and he went on to secure a 4x100m relay silver medal at the Paris Olympics.
This season, he has already broken the SA junior records in the 100m (9.99) and 200m (20.08) sprints, and he will be confident of securing the national U20 titles over both distances in Cape Town.
His strongest challenge is likely to come from in-form athlete Karabo Letebele, who clocked a personal best of 10.19 to win the men’s 100m race at the recent ASA Grand Prix in Tshwane.
Tumi Ramokgopa
We’ve seen an endless string of phenomenal young athletes emerging from the conveyor belt of South African athletics in recent years, but Ramokgopa might be the most promising of the lot.
At the age of 17, she has the world at her feet, and the biggest challenge she faces over the next few years is deciding whether she should focus on the 100m hurdles or the 400m hurdles as she approaches what should be a phenomenal senior career.
Already this season she has broken the SA U20 100m hurdles record, clocking 13.22, and it seems it’s only a matter of time before she breaks the national junior 400m hurdles record.
No athlete is unbeatable, but if Ramokgopa loses a race in either of her specialist events in Cape Town, it will be an overwhelming shock.
Njabulo Mbatha
While Ramokgopa has already made headlines across the country, Mbatha might not yet be as well known, but he is just as promising in the 400m hurdles event.
Last year, as a youth athlete, Mbatha finished fourth in the men’s 400m hurdles final at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Peru, and he played a key role in helping the national team secure the silver medal in the 4x400m relay.
Now in his first season as a junior athlete, the 17-year-old prodigy has already clocked 49.40 seconds this year, and will be the favourite to win the U20 men’s title in the one-lap race over the barriers.
Benjamin Richardson
In an emerging generation which features a long list of phenomenal young sprinters, Richardson might be the best of them all.
A three-time medallist at the World Athletics U20 Championships, he graduated to senior level in style last year, taking third place in the 100m final at the African Championships.
The reigning national senior 200m champion, he has already run under 10 seconds over 100m and 20 seconds over 200m, and he is a real prospect at the highest level of the sport.
He will have to beat 400m specialist Udeme Okon in the U23 200m sprint this week, but Richardson will line up as the favourite.
Viwe Jingqi
A few years ago, Jingqi was considered the next big thing in South African sprinting, before injuries and appendix surgery derailed the early stages of her fledgling career.
Last season, she bounced back by winning the SA senior 100m title and she went on to finish fifth in the short dash at the World Athletics U20 Championships.
Injury free and showing good form this season, Jingqi will be eager to take a step up, and anyone who wants to beat her to the SA U23 100m title is going to have to run out of their socks.
* Featured image of Bayanda Walaza by Cecilia van Bers
