On Thursday, South African sprint star Bayanda Walaza claimed his second gold medal of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games, hovering to the 200m title in 20.63 seconds at Bochum, Germany’s Lohrheidestadion. Two days earlier, the 19-year-old received the 100m in 10.16, finishing his second 100m-200m double on the world stage in lower than a 12 months.
In the 200m last, Spain’s Adria Alfonso Medero (20.70) and Korea’s Jaeseong Lee (20.75) rounded out the rostrum. In the 100m, Thailand’s Puripol Boonson (10.22) and Japan’s Hiroki Yanagita (10.23) took silver and bronze, respectively.
“Winning is an enormous factor to me; I respect each win,” Walaza, a first-year humanities scholar at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa, informed media after the 100m. “I give due to the individuals I used to be operating with, the competitors–I don’t take that as a right. [The race] was good–it is a second I’ll bear in mind.”
GOLD once more for Bayanda Walaza 🇿🇦 within the males’s 200m at the World University Games!!🥇🥇
He completes the 100/200m double in Rhine-Ruhr, operating 20.63s (-0.3) to win the 200m. pic.twitter.com/y2t52eYf9v
— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) July 24, 2025
In March, Walaza turned the first man this 12 months to dip below the 10-second barrier, clocking 9.99 seconds. His 9.94 private finest, set in May, stands because the South African file and the quickest U20 time of 2025 (and the Twelfth-fastest at the senior stage).
Teen sprinters clock quickest instances on the planet this 12 months
Becoming the world U20 champion
At the Paris Olympics final August, Walaza was a part of the South African quartet that raced to a silver medal within the 4 x 100m relay–ending runner-up to Canada. A number of weeks later, at the World U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, Walaza received 100m gold earlier than edging out Australian teen phenom Gout Gout for the 200m title.
See right here for full outcomes from the World University Games.