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.
