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Record-breaking teens shine at Joburg Grand Prix

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on Record-breaking teens shine at Joburg Grand Prix

Sprint sensation Bayanda Walaza was the star of the show at the second ASA Grand Prix meet of the season at the University of Johannesburg on Wednesday night with rising hurdles star Tumi Ramokgopa also in record-breaking form.

After becoming the first SA junior ever to dip under 10 seconds in the 100m last weekend, Bayanda put himself to the test over 200m in Joburg and duly delivered in chilly conditions. The 19-year-old powered to victory ahead of a field that included Luxolo Adams to win in a new SA junior record of 20.08 seconds. That saw him taking two hundredths of a second off the previous mark set by Clarence Munyai back in 2017.

“It wasn’t great weather, but I believe once you’re fast you don’t need to complain about anything… You cannot control how the weather is so it’s better to make it work for you,” he said afterwards.

As for breaking Clarence’s national junior record, Bayanda reckoned: “He said if I break his record, there will be something that I’ll get from him… He’s the one who said: ‘Bra, my record has been standing there for so long. What’s taking you so long to break it?’”

Earlier in the evening, Tumi was ecstatic after a second-place finish behind Olympic semifinalist Marioné Fourie in the 100m hurdles. Fourie won the race in 12.69 with Tumi second in a new SA junior record of 13.22 seconds.

“I am overwhelmed, I am in disbelief. Honestly, I did know that when I’m running against Marioné, she’s going to push me to that SA record but I didn’t think of a 13.2. It’s big, it means a lot and I didn’t expect to break it in my first year as a junior,” said the elated 17-year-old afterwards.

Marioné, whose time was the quickest she’s run on home soil, dedicated the win to her coach Jaun Strydom who passed away last week. Marioné decided to forgo the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China to attend his funeral on Friday.

“I think he would be very proud of this race,” she said fighting back the tears.

Another teenager showing fine form on the night was SA’s 400m world junior champion Udeme Okon. The 19-year-old outpaced two-time Olympian Lythe Pillay to win the 400m in a new personal best of 45.27 seconds. Lythe was second in 45.74.

“It was a great experience. He [Lythe] is one of the guys we look up to and want to compete against him,” said Okon afterwards. “He’s been to the Olympics and we know he’s more experienced. It’s just the thing of going out there and challenging him like we did today and showing them that the juniors are here and we’re here to dominate as well.”

Meanwhile, in the women’s 400m, Zeney Geldenhuys was pushed all the way by two of the teammates she set a new national 4x400m relay record with last week in Pretoria – Shirley Nekhubui and Marlie Viljoen. Zeney took the win in 51.26 seconds with Shirley second in 51.42 and Marlie third in 51.85.

Athletics South Africa Grand Prix Brings the Heat to Pilditch!

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on Athletics South Africa Grand Prix Brings the Heat to Pilditch!

Prudence Sekgodiso and Marioné Fourie both produced promising performances to boost their confidence levels ahead of jetting off to the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China next week.

Competing at the first ASA Grand Prix meet of the season at the Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria, Fourie blazed to the fastest season-opener of her career, winning the 100m hurdles in a speedy time of 12.77 seconds.

“12.7 to begin with for the 100m hurdles and a world lead, I’m very excited,” said an elated Marioné afterwards.

“This gives me a lot of confidence because we didn’t know where I was standing in training so having this fastest season’s opener shows that we are ready for next week.”

Prudence looked to have plenty in the tank as she cruised to victory in the 800m. The Olympic finalist slotted in behind training partner Oratile Nowe of Botswana for much of the race before taking the lead on the back straight in the final lap, eventually reaching the finish in a time of 1:59.01. Oratile was second in a new national record for Botswana of 1:59.46.

“The girls were slowing down so I had no choice but to pass them… I’m glad that I maintained that sub-two minutes. It shows that there’s something big coming looking towards the World Championships coming up next week,” said Prudence afterwards.

“I’m actually shocked because for the past two weeks I’ve been training for the 1500. I’ve been doing long stuff at training yet I ran sub-two minutes. I don’t know how I did it but thanks to God, I just have the natural speed in me.”

Later in the evening, it was a teenage sprint sensation who stole the show when he defeated Kenya’s African record holder Ferdinand Omanyala in the men’s 100m.

Karabo Letebele stormed home in a time of 10.19 seconds – the fastest 100m time by a junior athlete in the world this year – to take the win. Emile Erasmus was second by a few thousandths of a second with Ferdinand relegated to third place in 10.22.

“I didn’t expect to beat him [Ferdinand]. I thought he was going to run a 9.-something so I just told myself to execute my own race, go through my phases and I’ll be fine,” said the 18-year-old from Vanderbijlpark who is planning to take up a scholarship to study business management in the USA later this year.

“This has given me more confidence knowing that I have what it takes, especially in my age group. I’m going against the likes of [Olympic silver medallist] Bayanda [Walaza] so I’m just happy to see that my hard work pays off and I have what it takes to be number one.”

Meanwhile, there were two South African records set on Wednesday. Leandri Holtzhausen was first up in the women’s hammer throw, bettering her own mark set four weeks ago with a distance of 67.95m.

“I definitely think I can get close to 70m,” she said afterwards. “I really feel good, my training has been going really well, so it’s just a matter of time.”