The severity of Bayanda Walaza’s hamstring injury is likely to be known tomorrow afternoon after he has been fully assessed.
The best case scenario is that it was just a severe cramp that forced the double World Student Games champion to pull up during the 100m race at the Diamond League finale in Zurich this week.
He immediately slowed down, his hand moving to his left hamstring as he continued striding over the finish line before falling to the track, his face a mask of agony.
If the 19-year-old is unable to go to the world championships in Tokyo — with the men’s 100m heats just 13 days away — it’ll be a massive blow for South Africa’s medal hopes.
The country hasn’t won a medal at the last three editions of the world championships. There are other opportunities in Japan, like Akani Simbine in the 100m, Prudence Sekgodiso in the women’s 800m, Olympic silver medallist Jo-Ané du Plessis in the women’s javelin, and, if Zakithi Nene can get fully fit, the men’s 400m and 4x400m.
But the men’s 4x100m relay team was one of the strongest podium chances. Walaza had become a critical part of that outfit, contributing with his world-class lightning start.
He has also been South Africa’s second-fastest 100m athlete this year — behind veteran Simbine, who ended second in Zurich — and was tied for 20th on the world list for 2025, thanks to the 9.94sec he blitzed in Croatia in May.
Walaza was even leading Thursday night’s race when he felt his hamstring some 30m from the end. An individual medal would probably have been unlikely in Japan but he might have made the 100m semifinals, if not even the final.
Walaza’s busy racing schedule this year will have to be scrutinised.
In total he has had 41 races, more than double the number executed by the big names.
US Olympic champion Noah Lyles has raced 14 times, Jamaican silver medallist Kishane Thompson 15 and Simbine 19, which included his 60m indoor campaign at the start of the season.
Only two men in the top 20 had raced more often than Walaza. Abdul-Rasheed Saminu of Ghana had been on the track on 44 occasions, and American T’Mars McCallum 42, but the difference was that both are on the notoriously busy US collegiate circuit.
Both also raced almost exclusively in the US, with Saminu competing once in Canada and once in Hungary. Walaza, on the other hand, has been in action in eight countries outside South Africa, from China to the US and Jamaica.
A member of Walaza’s team said an announcement on the nature of the injury would be made after assessments had been completed, probably tomorrow afternoon.
If Walaza is ruled out, he will almost certainly be replaced by Retshidisitswe Mlenga, the 2017 under-18 200m world champion and the next fastest available South African with his 9.99 from late last month. The other option is Benjamin Richardson, who hasn’t run a legal sub-10 100m this year.
Whoever it is will also have to take part in the relay, but bear in mind there have been no training camps since the men won the 4x100m gold at World Relays in May.
If Walaza is injured, fans will hope for a repeat of the Paris Olympics where South Africa won the relay silver. A few days before the Games relay, Richardson — the country’s second-fastest sprinter of 2024 — pulled up injured, opening the door for Walaza to come into the mix.
Perhaps there’s a new star waiting in the wings to perform another rescue act, or maybe Walaza will be declared fit after all.
One can only hope.
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