Olympic hero Walaza scoops U20 world 100m crown with Nkoana taking third

Olympic relay star Bayanda Walaza stormed through to capture the under-20 men’s world 100m crown in Lima on Thursday morning (SA time), with his Paris teammate Bradley Nkoana taking bronze.

The matric pupil at Curro Hazeldean in Pretoria delivered the quickest start and held on to his lead down the track to take a surprise victory in 10.19 sec despite his unorthodox style where his head rocks and arms flail.

Once dubbed “Wobble Wobble”, the 18-year-old continued a dream run that started with the Olympic silver in the 4x100m relay at the Paris Games.

Thailand’s Puripol Boonson, 18, was second in 10.22 and 19-year-old Nkoana, who ran the third leg at the Olympics, third in 10.26. Nkoana, who studies coaching science at North West University in Potchefstroom, was the oldest in a field that included three 17-year-olds.

South Africa now has three medals and was lying joint third on the medals table after two days of competition in Peru.

Viwe Jingqi ended fifth in the women’s 100m final in 11.57, well behind Jamaican winner Alana Reid in 11.17.

Udeme Okon finished second in his 400m semifinal in 47.08 sec to advance to the final on Thursday.

Johannes Morepe ended second in his 1,500m heat in 3 min 45.10 sec to book his spot in Saturday’s final.

Tumi Ramokgopa won her 400m hurdles heat in 58.04 and Hannah van Niekerk ended second in hers in 58.44 to advance to the semifinals on Friday.

Njabulo Mbatha advanced to the semifinals of the men’s 400m hurdles. 

Tshepang Dankuru cleared 2.12m and Luke van der Merwe 2.09m to progress to the men’s high jump final scheduled for Friday.