Gift Leotlela and Bayanda Walaza in one-two finish in 100m in Brussels Diamond League
Athletics
Sprinter Gift Leotlela won the men's 100m invitation race at the Brussels Diamond League meet on Friday night.
Image: Anton Geyser/SASPA/SASI
National men's champion Gift Leotlela grabbed gold in the men’s invitational 100m race at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels, Belgium on Friday night, while training partner Bayanda Walaza grabbed silver in an impressive one-two finish for the SA sprinters against a strong field.
Leotlela clocked 10.13 seconds while Walaza clocked 10.18 in a photo finish, followed by American Brandon Hicklin in third (10.22). Elvis Afrifa of the Netherlands finished fourth while Africa’s speed king Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya could only manage seventh place.
Olympic relay silver medallist Walaza was hoping to build on his gold-winning form in the 100m and 200m at the 2025 FISU World University Games in Bochum, Germany, but was edged out by Leotlela, who had also pipped him to the national title.
Even though the times are well off their season's best times, the South African duo will welcome the quality opposition as they finalise preparations for the world championships in Tokyo next month.
Young sprint sensation Bayanda Walaza had to settle for silver in the 100m invitation race at the Brussels Diamond League in a time of 10.18 on Friday night.
Image: BackpagePix
The performance in Belgium is the latest outstanding showing by SA sprinters who continue to shine on the world stage.
SA record holder Akani Simbine was last in action in Wednesday night’s Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he grabbed fourth place in the men's 100m sprint in 10.05 seconds. Jamaican athlete Oblique Seville took a convincing win in 9.87.
Behind Seville, a few athletes crossed the line in a blanket finish in the battle for the remaining podium places, with Simbine narrowly edged out by Olympic champion Noah Lyles of the US and Jamaica's Ackeem Blake, who both clocked 10.02 in second and third.
Simbine has already secured his place in next week’s Diamond League final in Zurich. He will be joined by 400m star Zakithi Nene, Olympic javelin silver medallist Jo-Ane du Plessis, and women’s 800m star Prudence Sekgodiso.
Du Plessis landed the javelin at 58.89m to grab silver in Lausanne, and even though she was well short of Serbian athlete Adriana Vilagos who secured victory with a 63.02m throw, Du Plessis did enough to earn her third Diamond League podium finish of the season.