RISING STARS: 10 OF SOUTH AFRICA’S MOST PROMISING ATHLETES

Jansen is one of the most promising javelin throwers the country has produced over the last decade.

Last year, he won the SA junior title and the national student title, and he went on to finish seventh in the final at the World University Games in Bochum. He also won gold at the African U20 Championships in Nigeria.

During the 2025 season, he set a personal best of 78.10m, which was the best throw by a South African junior athlete in nine years. It was also the furthest throw in the world by an U20 athlete in 2025.

After breaking the national youth long jump record as an U18 athlete, Masikane continued to shine in the U20 age group over the last two years.

In 2024 he took fourth place at the World Athletics U20 Championships, and last year he equalled his personal best of 8.06 metres, producing the second biggest jump in the world by a junior athlete in 2025. He also won gold in the triple jump and silver in the long jump at the African U20 Championships.

An extremely versatile athlete, Masikane holds personal bests of 15.95m in the triple jump, 2.03m in the high jump, 10.50 in the 100m sprint and 21.14 in the 200m dash.

At the SA Senior Championships last year, Khunou broke the African junior discus throw record with a 55.06m heave, and she went on to improve on her own mark when she landed the discus at 55.15m at the NWU Top 30 meeting in Potchefstroom.

She also delivered at international level, winning gold in the shot put and discus throw finals at the African U20 Championships.

Big things are expected from her as she embarks on her first campaign as a senior athlete in 2026.

A sensational young athlete, Koekemoer is breaking new ground in the 400m sprint.
At last year’s national senior championships, he shattered one of the toughest SA records in the books, clocking 45.03 to break the 31-year-old national junior mark of 45.15 held by Riaan Dempers.

He was also superb at the World Athletics Relays where he ran a phenomenal third leg in the men’s 4x400m relay final, playing a key role in the South African team securing the gold medal.

Koekemoer is still competing in the junior age group this year, and he will be among the medal contenders at the World Athletics U20 Championships to be held in Eugene in August.

Jack is one of those athletes who is so supremely talented he might struggle to decide which event to specialise in as he moves up the ranks to professional level.

At the national junior championships in Cape Town last year, he won his first-round heat in 13.16 seconds, breaking the African U20 record in the 110m hurdles.

Later in the year, he went on to win gold in the 110m hurdles at the African U20 Championships, and he qualified to represent South Africa in the 200m sprint at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo where he was one of the youngest members of the national senior team.

One of the most exciting young talents in South African athletics, Ramokgopa is remarkably good in both the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles events.

Two years ago she broke the SA youth record in the 400m hurdles, and last year she cracked the national junior mark in the 100m hurdles, stopping the clock at 13.15 seconds on two separate occasions at meetings in Pretoria and Potchefstroom.

She also won gold in both the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles events at the African Athletics U20 Championships.

Continuing South Africa’s rich tradition in the 400m hurdles event, Mbatha has a very bright future ahead of him.

Two years ago, he finished fourth in the one-lap final over the barriers at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Peru, at the age of 17, and he formed part of the 4x400m relay team that bagged the silver medal.

Last season he set an impressive personal best of 49.10 in Pretoria, and he went on to win the African junior title in his specialist discipline in Nigeria.

Competing in the youth age group last season, Miyen was absolutely phenomenal.

At an ACNW meeting in Potchefstroom in June, he completed the 110m hurdles in 12.91 seconds, breaking the African U18 record.

Miyen climbed to second place in the all-time global rankings, narrowly missing the world youth record of 12.87 set by Australian athlete Sasha Zhoya in 2019.

Later in the year, he secured the African U18 title, winning the boys’ 110m hurdles final by more than half a second in one of the most impressive performances at the continental championships.

South Africa has a number of young female sprinters who are showing real potential, including the likes of Hannah Hope Vermaak and Oluchi Ndubueze, but Burger might be the most promising of them all.

At the SA Senior Championships in Potchefstroom last year, she charged to victory in the 200m final at the age of 17, becoming the youngest athlete to win the national women’s half-lap title. She also grabbed bronze in the 100m final.