Bayanda Walaza displays his silver medal from the Paris Olympics, on his return to Curro Hazeldean High School FILE. Bayanda Walaza was the standout South African athletes at the Under-20 World Championship. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL Sport
It was an Under-20 world championships to remember for Team SA as they bagged seven medals in total.
The country’s three gold, two silver and two bronze placed them sixth overall.
Udeme Okon picked up his second medal of the Under-20 World Championships in Lima on Saturday night (Sunday morning SA time) as South Africa added two medals on the final day of competition.
In the men’s 4x400m relay, Bryan Katoo ran the first leg of the relay in 47.16 seconds, giving the baton to Sihle Mahlangu in fifth place, behind the US, India, Poland and Australia. But Mahlangu stormed around the track in 45.50 — the third-fastest split of the night — to pull South Africa into second spot.
Njabulo Mbatha, who earlier in the evening had ended fourth in the men’s 400m hurdles in 49.68, after missing out on the podium by just seven-hundredths of a second, ran the third leg in 46.81 to push South Africa’s lead to just more than half-a-second over Poland, who were lying third at the time.
WHAT. A. COMEBACK.
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 30, 2024
🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦's Udeme Okon wins the 400m final in great style with 45.69 🔥#WorldAthleticsU20 pic.twitter.com/30Rd1KXTIf
Okon closed out the race in style, completing the final lap in 45.75. The US were more than a second ahead in 3:03.56 while Australia finished strongly to take third place in 3:05.53.
The SA star of the championships though had to be Bayanda Walaza. The 18-year-old schoolboy capped off the month of his life by achieving the 100m and 200m sprint double at the Under-20 champs.
Walaza blew away his competitors in the 200m in the early hours of Saturday morning SA time to win in a time of 20.52. The 200m gold came a couple of days after he won the gold medal in the 100m.
Walaza became the first athlete to claim the men's sprint double in 26 years at the event. The youngster was also part of the SA 4x100m relay team alongside Akani Simbine, Shaun Maswanganyi and Bradley Nkoana that claimed silver at the Paris Olympics last month.
Meanwhile, Hannah van Niekerk, 19, ran a 56.98 lifetime best in the 400m hurdles to take bronze to become the only woman to contribute to South Africa’s medal haul.