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Jaco van Dyk Claims Bronze as South Africa Impresses on Opening Day of World U20 Championships

Posted : 06 August 2026

South Africa enjoyed an encouraging start to the 2026 World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon, with Jaco van Dyk securing the country's first medal of the competition.

The 16-year-old shot putter qualified comfortably for the final before producing a personal-best throw of 19.80m to win the bronze medal. Brazil’s Alessandro Borges claimed gold with a 20.35m effort, while South Korea’s Si-hoon Park earned silver after throwing 20.31m.

The South African mixed 4x400m relay team also delivered an outstanding performance by breaking the national U20 record twice in one day.

Ryno Rikert, Zante van der Merwe, Abelines Schoeman and Isabella Gunter clocked 3:22.12 in the heats before Davida Strong replaced Van der Merwe in the final, where the quartet improved to 3:21.48 to finish sixth and set another national junior record. 

South Africa's field athletes continued to shine in the qualification rounds. Jan-Hendrik Heymans dominated the men's javelin qualifiers with a superb throw of 76.02m, finishing well clear of the rest of the field, while Marques Olivier also advanced to the final with a 68.77m effort. In the women's long jump, Ashlynn Norman secured her place in the final after reaching 6.11m.

On the track, Marko Ferreira booked his place in the men's 100m final after winning his semifinal in 10.13 seconds. Mukona Manavhela narrowly missed qualification by just 0.01 seconds, while Rume Burger also fell short of the women's 100m final.

Middle-distance runners Werner Gouws, Emil Els and Carise van Rooyen all advanced to the 800m semifinals, keeping South Africa's hopes alive across multiple events. Distance runner Njabulo Hlatshwayo placed 15th in the men's 5,000m final to complete a productive opening day for Team South Africa.

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