Two of SA’s U-20 relay heroes followed Wayde’s injury-laden journey to 400m

04 September 2024 - 10:59
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Bryan Katoo, left, Sihle Mahlangu and Bayanda Walaza pose with their U-20 world championship medals at OR Tambo Airport.
Bryan Katoo, left, Sihle Mahlangu and Bayanda Walaza pose with their U-20 world championship medals at OR Tambo Airport.
Image: Athletics South Africa/Facebook

Two members of South Africa’s silver-winning 4x400m relay team at the U-20 world championships in Lima at the weekend followed similar injury-enforced journeys to the one-lap event as Wayde van Niekerk.

Bryan Katoo, who ran the first leg in Peru, and the man he passed the baton to, Sihle Mahlangu, used to do other disciplines.

Katoo, like Van Niekerk, focused on the shorter sprints before a hamstring problem made him reconsider.

“I was initially a 100m and 200m sprinter, but due to injury my coach had to move me to 400m, which worked in my favour so I think 400m is my main event [now],” said Katoo, the son of a citrus farmer at Hankey, a small town in the Gamtoos Valley in the Eastern Cape.

“I strained my hamstring and in that period my coach [Jannie van Niekerk] told me sprinting short distances is aggravating it because it’s more intense and that would cause it to worsen, so we took the 400m,” added the 18-year-old matric pupil at Nico Malan in Humansdorp.

Van Niekerk, the 400m world record-holder, 2016 Olympic champion and two-time world title-holder, started out as a sprinter, finishing fourth in the 200m at the 2010 world junior championships.

His hamstrings were unable to cope with the explosiveness required in the 100m and 200m and he switched to the 400m in 2012.

Potchefstroom Gymnasium matric pupil Mahlangu, who comes from Wolmaranstad, a small town in the North West, started out as a field athlete, doing high jump and triple jump.

In 2022 he came down with what’s called jumper’s knees.

“It was so bad I went to three different knee specialists and they all told me this is the most amount of swelling they saw on a teenage boy.

“They initially suggested I should have surgery to fix it but I never opted for that. We did rehab for a few months. It went well and then it all broke down,” the 18-year-old said.

He considered leaving track and field altogether but decided to branch out instead. “Then I thought let me try something new like sprinting. I was about to even go for pole vault. Now that I went to sprinting, my coaches at school supported it.

“They helped me with rehab programmes, gym programmes just to build up my form as a sprinter. It brought me to here.”

The South African team in Peru was anchored by newly crowned 400m world junior champion Udeme Okon, who proved a calming influence in the call room just before the race.

“It’s hectic [in the call room],” recalled Katoo. “People, they scream, they smack their muscles — they hit their quads, hit their thighs — they try to intimidate you, so if you have the most powerful 400m U-20 runner on your team it calms your nerves quite a bit.”

Katoo and Mahlangu seemed surprised by the attention they received on their return on Tuesday, compared with Olympic star Bayanda Walaza, whose fellow pupils from Curro Hazeldean arrived at OR Tambo to welcome them home.

Walaza appeared comfortable as he greeted onlookers with smiles and waves, unlike Katoo and Mahlangu when they were approached by pupils wanting to pose for photos.

“I would say it’s a new experience,” admitted Katoo. “I’ve never received this much attention, but ja, it feels good.”


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