OPINION: Benji Richardson leads a promising generation of new sprint stars

In 2014, when Simon Magakwe became the first South African to break 10 seconds in the 100m dash, nobody could have predicted how much it would change the face of local sprinting.

That performance opened the floodgates, and the country’s fastest men have since raised the bar to a whole new level.

Since 2014, a total of eight SA men have run under 10 seconds, while seven athletes have gone under 20 seconds in the 200m, and Wayde van Niekerk holds the 400m world record of 43.03.

These fast times haven’t quite equated to all the medals we might have hoped for at major global championships, but we do have some to show for it, in both individual and relay events.

Next generation

And while the likes of Van Niekerk and Akani Simbine are still among the best in the world, the conveyor belt of talent continues to turn and a new generation of athletes looks set to take the baton, including SA junior 100m record holders Bradley Nkoana and Viwe Jingqi. But the most promising of all is lanky 20-year-old Benjamin Richardson.

Richardson has climbed the ranks in recent years, securing four medals at the World U-20 Championships, and he showed his class by beating Van Niekerk to the national senior 200m title this season.

He achieved his biggest breakthrough at the weekend, however, winning the 100m sprint in 9.86 seconds at a meeting in Switzerland. He also took second place in the 200m event in 19.99, dipping under 10 seconds (100m) and 20 seconds (200m) for the first time in his career.

Real potential

Those results were achieved at La Chaux-de-Fonds, which is about 1 000 metres above sea level, and with high altitude conditions benefiting sprinters, he will need to prove he can do it again at sea level.

Richardson is the real deal, however, and it seems inevitable that he will go even quicker over the next few years.

It’s been 10 years since Magakwe’s breakthrough performance, and as well as the nation’s sprinters have done to raise the bar over the last decade, Richardson’s latest efforts (and those of his peers) suggest the best is yet to come.