SA’s future stars shine at world junior athletics championships

South Africa’s future in athletics looks bright following a stellar performance at the 2026 U20 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Team SA brought home eight medals — their second-largest haul ever, just behind their nine-medal record at the 2021 edition.

South Africa’s standout performer was 19-year-old javelin favourite Jan-Hendrik Heymans, who delivered gold with a sensational 80.50m throw, shattering his previous personal best by more than 3m.

An opening 76.92m effort immediately put Heymans in gold-medal territory, but he dominated by clearing 76m on every single attempt, topping out at 80.50m. Ashish Yadav of India took silver (74.09m), while Addison James made history for Dominica, taking bronze with a national record of 73.89m to secure his country’s first world U20 medal.

“The people, the vibe, the atmosphere [spurred me on],” Heymans told Runner Space. “In my country, if you want to encourage the crowd to clap with you, it is seen as you not being humble. The people who want to clap will clap. But here I saw that you have to clap first if you want the people to [back you]. I tried that, and it worked.

“This medal means a lot. Hopefully, it opens a lot of doors for me. I want to pursue my javelin career because I’m still young.”

Silver streak

Hurdler and sprinter Tumi Ramokgopa also shone for South Africa, winning two silver medals — in the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.96, and in the 400m hurdles with a personal best of 55.88.

“It is beyond special,” said Ramokgopa. “I was in disbelief coming into the home straight [in the 400m race]. I saw that I was in a medal position and knew I had to give it my all.”

Alongside Ramokgopa and Heymans, South Africa’s medal streak continued with Marko Ferreira taking bronze in the 100m sprint and Leendert Koekemoer securing bronze in the 400m. Koekemoer then anchored Team SA to a 4x400m relay silver in an African U20 record time of 3:02.76. Further bronzes came from Matodzi Ndou in the 400m hurdles (49.90) and Jaco van Dyk in the shot put (19.80m).

“This is a tremendously proud moment for South African athletics. Finishing 10th overall with eight medals — one gold, three silver and four bronze — is a remarkable achievement and a clear reflection of the talent, determination and competitive spirit of our young athletes,” said John Mathane, Athletics South Africa’s acting president. “To achieve our biggest medal haul at a World Athletics U20 Championships since Nairobi in 2021 is something the entire athletics family can celebrate.

“The spotlight of this remarkable work of achievement must go to parents and everyone else who put their hands on the deck to put the Rainbow Nation first. The cooperation of parents and guardians with team officials has been at the highest level of professionalism, and we say thank you.

“On behalf of Athletics South Africa, I congratulate every athlete, coach, team official, support staff and everyone who contributed to this outstanding performance in Eugene. These young athletes have once again shown that South Africa has a strong pipeline of future champions, and their success gives us great confidence and excitement for the future of our sport.”

The U20 Athletics Champs were celebrating their 40th anniversary in Oregon, having been launched in Athens in 1986. DM