With 10 days remaining before the qualifying window closes, a total of 23 South African athletes and four relay teams have achieved the required standards in their events for the World Athletics Championships to be held in Tokyo in September.
Sprinter Bayanda Walaza (100m and 200m) and distance runner Adriaan Wildschutt (5 000m and 10 000m) are the only SA athletes to have qualified in two events.
Athletes who don’t achieve the automatic standards before the window closes on 24 August can still qualify based on world rankings, while African champions have also provisionally qualified in their events.
Each country can select up to three participants in each discipline.
List of automatic qualifiers
Men
100m (10.00)
9.82 Akani Simbine (Paris, 4 August 2024)
9.94 Bayanda Walaza (Zagreb, 24 May 2025)
9.95 Benjamin Richardson (Paris, 4 August 2024)
9.98 Gift Leotlela (Montgeron, 27 June 2025)
9.99 Retshidisitswe Mlenga (Eisenstadt, 23 July 2025)
200m (20.16)
20.01 Sinesipho Dambile (Gaborone, 12 April 2025)
20.07 Wayde van Niekerk (Budapest, 12 August 2025)
20.08 Bayanda Walaza (Johannesburg, 19 March 2025)
20.13 Naeem Jack (Potchefstroom, 26 April 2025)
20.15 Abduraqhmaan Karriem (Potchefstroom, 26 April 2025)
400m (44.85)
44.22 Zakithi Nene (Potchefstroom, 26 April 2025)
44.84 Lythe Pillay (Bochum, 23 July 2025)
1 500m (3:33.00)
3:32.03 Tshepo Tshite (Cape Town, 4 April 2025)
3:32.27 Ryan Mphahlele (Dessau, 21 June 2025)
5 000m (13:01.00)
12:55.02 Adriaan Wildschutt (Boston, 2 March 2025)
10 000m (27:00.00)
26:50.64 Adriaan Wildschutt (Paris, 2 August 2024)
Marathon (2:06:30)
2:05:36 Elroy Gelant (Hamburg, 27 April 2025)
4x100m relay
SA team (first at World Athletics Relays)
4x400m relay
SA team (first at World Athletics Relays)
Women
400m (50.66)
50.66 Miranda Coetzee (Paris, 6 August 2024)
800m (1:59.00)
1:57.16 Prudence Sekgodiso (Ostrava, 24 June 2025)
1:58.98 Charne Swart-Du Plessis (Potchefstroom, 26 April 2025)
100m hurdles (12.73)
12.60 Marione Fourie (Hengelo, 9 June 2025)
400m hurdles (54.65)
53.90 Zeney Geldenhuys (Paris, 6 August 2024)
54.12 Rogail Joseph (Paris, 6 August 2024)
Javelin throw (64.00)
64.22 Jo-Ane du Plessis (Paris, 7 August 2024)
Marathon (2:23:30)
2:22:22 Glenrose Xaba (Cape Town, 20 October 2024)
4x400m relay
SA team (third at World Athletics Relays)
Mixed
4x400m relay
SA team (fifth at World Athletics Relays)
* Featured image of Adriaan Wildschutt by Cecilia van Bers
Ah, I hope there will be a place for John Adesola in the team!!! He ran a 13.28s in 110mH at NCAA in the USA on 13th of June 2025 and a 13.26s….but with wind