On Thursday, South African sprint star Bayanda Walaza claimed his second gold medal of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games, soaring to the 200m title in 20.63 seconds at Bochum, Germany’s Lohrheidestadion. Two days earlier, the 19-year-old won the 100m in 10.16, completing his second 100m-200m double on the world stage in less than a year.
In the 200m final, Spain’s Adria Alfonso Medero (20.70) and Korea’s Jaeseong Lee (20.75) rounded out the podium. In the 100m, Thailand’s Puripol Boonson (10.22) and Japan’s Hiroki Yanagita (10.23) took silver and bronze, respectively.
“Winning is a big thing to me; I respect each and every win,” Walaza, a first-year humanities student at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa, told media after the 100m. “I give thanks to the people I was running with, the competition–I don’t take that for granted. [The race] was perfect–this is a moment I’ll remember.”
GOLD again for Bayanda Walaza 🇿🇦 in the men’s 200m at the World University Games!!🥇🥇
He completes the 100/200m double in Rhine-Ruhr, running 20.63s (-0.3) to win the 200m. pic.twitter.com/y2t52eYf9v
— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) July 24, 2025
In March, Walaza became the first man this year to dip under the 10-second barrier, clocking 9.99 seconds. His 9.94 personal best, set in May, stands as the South African record and the fastest U20 time of 2025 (and the 12th-fastest at the senior level).
Teen sprinters clock fastest times in the world this year
Becoming the world U20 champion
At the Paris Olympics last August, Walaza was part of the South African quartet that raced to a silver medal in the 4 x 100m relay–finishing runner-up to Canada. A few weeks later, at the World U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, Walaza won 100m gold before edging out Australian teen phenom Gout Gout for the 200m title.
See here for full results from the World University Games.
