Running from the front: Ryan Mphahlele has the world at his feet

South Africa has a rich history of middle-distance running, and while the nation doesn’t really boast as much depth as it should considering the immense talent it produces, at least one athlete in a generation stands up and delivers.

Among the women, since Caster Semenya was sidelined by international rules, Prudence Sekgodiso has shown the type of promise required to pick up the baton and run with it at international level.

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However, a world-class male athlete has not emerged since the retirement of Johan Cronje in 2016, and this drought has been a cause for concern in recent years.

Enter Ryan Mphahlele.

As good as his predecessors were, if anything, Mphahlele has displayed even more potential. But it’s not the times he has run that make him such a pleasure to watch. It’s his sheer aggression.

When he’s not competing, Mphahlele is a bag full of smiles and has become one of the most likeable athletes on the domestic circuit, but when he puts on his running shoes he transforms into one of the most dangerously competitive individuals in South African athletics.

Brilliant performances

In 2018, Mphahlele displayed tremendous guts at the ASA Grand Prix meeting in Pretoria when he was the only athlete in a quality field to chase Ugandan icon Joshua Cheptegei in the men’s 3 000m race, showing no fear and making Cheptegei work for it until he was finally dropped on the last lap.

In 2021, at the SA Cross Country Championships in Amanzimtoti, he rocketed around the course with such intensity he gave nobody else a chance, charging to the national title in one of the most impressive displays of front running seen in South Africa in decades.

And last month he showed the same sort of aggression at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst where he handed over the baton in first place after the opening leg of the mixed relay, in what was perhaps the best performance by a South African at the global cross country showpiece since the 90s.

READ MORE: SA team fight hard, but no medals at World Cross Country Champs

These glimpses of brilliance have made him the most promising men’s middle-distance runner in South Africa, and while he is already 24 and has no national records to his name, it seems only a matter of time before he makes a top-flight breakthrough.

He has a determination to win which is rare to see in even the greatest of athletes, and if he can stay injury free and remain consistent, Mphahlele has the potential to take on the best in the world. And he has the ability to beat them.