Bayanda Walaza storms into rare territory as he equals his 9.89 best

Olympic silver medallist Bayanda Walaza became only the second South African to dip under 9.90sec twice as he won the 100m at a meet in Beograd, Serbia, on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old matched the 9.89 personal best he clocked in Slovakia in July to join Akani Simbine as the only men to have made multiple forays into 9.90 territory.

Simbine has been there five times — first in 2016, second in 2021 and then on three occasions in 2024, two of which were at the Paris Olympics, in the semifinals and final, setting his 9.82 South African record finishing fourth by one-hundredth of a second.

Gift Leotlela went 9.87 at the world championships in Tokyo last year and Benjamin Richardson, who is now racing for Ireland, was timed at 9.86 at La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland in 2024.

Walaza’s feat also means he’s only the second South African after Simbine to do two sub-9.90s in a season.

Walaza, the double sprint champion at the 2025 World University Games and the 100m-200m gold medallist at the 2024 under-20 world championships, beat some decent names on Wednesday.

Behind him were American Ronnie Baker, a member of the US team that won the 4x100m world title in Japan last year as well as Jerome Blake and Aaron Brown, both part of the Canadian team that took the Olympic 4x100m gold in Paris.

Walaza’s victory came just too late to boost his rankings points to secure automatic qualification for the inaugural World Athletics ultimate championships in Budapest later this month, missing the qualifying window by one day.

His 1,272 total is 17 points behind American Baker, the lowest qualifier on world rankings points.

Simbine and Leotlela have qualified for that as well as the Diamond League final in Brussels on Friday night, where the winner will also earn a spot at the new competition that runs from September 11-13.