Bayanda Walaza: South African teen star storms to U20 national record and world's fastest time in 2025

Bayanda Walaza

Bayanda Walaza: South African teen star storms to U20 national record and world's fastest time in 2025

Funmilayo Fameso 18:47 - 15.03.2025

At just 19, Bayanda Walaza became South Africa’s first junior to break 10 seconds and the fastest man so far in the world this year.

South Africa's rising sprint sensation Bayanda Walaza laid down the gauntlet on what to expect for the rest of the season after blazing to a new National U20 Record and world-leading 100m time of 9.99s at the AGN Championships in Pretoria.

The 19-year-old ran a well-executed race from the start to the finish line to drop the massive Personal Best (PB) and become South Africa’s first junior in history to break the 10-second mark.

Walaza's jaw-dropping performance is his third outing of the season, following respective 60m and 200m times of 6.58s and 20.63s in February.

This shows the talented youngster is on steady progress and is in form to produce more exceptional performances as the season progresses and ahead of the World Championships in Tokyo.

South Africa's rising sprint star Bayanda Walaza

Last year, Walaza had a groundbreaking season that saw him become the world's fastest teenager, having won the 100m and 200m titles at the World U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, thus writing his name as the first South African sprinter to attain such a feat in the championship history.

In addition, by winning both titles, the rising speedster became only the fourth sprinter in history to complete the sprint double at the World U20 Championships behind the legendary Ato Boldon (1992), ex-Nigerian sprinter Francis Obikwelu (1996), and Christian Malcolm (1998).

Bayanda Walaza defeated Gout Gout to complete the sprint double at the 2024 World U20 Championships in Lima

His exceptional outing in Lima, was a follow-up to his brilliant display at the Paris Olympic Games, where he ran the first leg of South Africa's 4x100m silver medal-winning team that clocked a new African Record of 37.57s.

Without an iota of doubt, the South African is one of the brightest young sprinter's in the world, and track enthusiasts can only be excited about the bright future ahead of him.

Tags: