Athletics shines as top sporting code at 2025 SA Sports Awards

Athletics shone the brightest at the18th annual SA Sports Awards on Sunday night as a number of the country's top road running and track and field stars were honoured for their performances during 2024 and 2025. In year dominated by the Olympic Games, the national 4x100m men's relay team comprising Bayanda Walaza, Shaun Maswanganyi, Bradley Nkoana and Akani Simbine that won the silver medal at #Paris2024 walked away with the Team of The Year Award. Finishing on the podium ahead of the likes of the United States, Jamaica, Great Britain and France was an unprecedented feat for a South African sprint relay team. Nkoana says he has seen their historic achievement inspire a new generation and raised the level of sprinting in South Africa.

"Coming into this SA season, we didn't know a lot of people were going to bring so much heat, forgetting that what we did last year in Paris actually pushed them to do much better. Our team is on fire and it’s about the chemistry around the team and what we do in practice. We know each other in terms of our strengths and our weaknesses. Knowing that if I’m running the third leg and Akani’s finishing, I know where he likes me to put the baton. Now more people are putting their hands up with quick times. Everybody is buying into the relay because they can see how much of a difference it can make to your life."

Just as they did at the ASA Awards in January, South Africa's Olympic men's 4x100m relay team, were the big winners at the SA Sports Awards which took place at Sun City on 24 August. Photo Credit: Cecilia van Bers.

For winning gold in the Discus Throw F38 at the Paris Paralympics, 20-year-old Simoné Kruger scooped both the Youth/Junior Sport Star of the Year and the Sportswoman of the Year with a Disability. "I feel really young because I’ve only been in the sport since 2019,” said Kruger who was coached by Eben Vermaas when she first captured public attention in 2020. "So to take the award for the best junior athlete against such amazing athletes like Bayanda Walaza is an honour. Yoh! I didn’t think I was gonna win against him. It’s just amazing to win this award."

The Sportsman of the Year with a Disability went to sprinter and long jumper Mpumelelo Mhlongo for his Paralympic heroics that saw him win the men’s T44 100m gold medal, bronze in the T64 200m and a new men’s T44 long jump world record. Mhlongo who hails from KZN, said his Paralympic exploits were motivated by a desire to inspire South Africa's youth.

3-time Comrades Marathon champion Tete Dijana poses with Minister of Sport Gayton McKenzie after being honoured with a Ministerial Excellence Award. Photo Credit: SA Sports Awards.

"South Africa is one of the greatest sporting nations in the world and it to represent the nation at the Paralympics was one of absolute privilege. We are prepared to go out to show the youth of South Africa that you are not your circumstances. You can be who you want to be if you forge the right support and stick to the structures so that you can shine your light for the world to see. Me and my team were fortunate to come back with two medals and two world records and we haven’t looked back ever since."

Multiple Comrades Marathon champion Tete Dijana, who won a third Down Run title on 8 June was also honoured with a Ministerial Excellence Award, while Louis Massyn who in June became the first man on earth to earn 50 Comrades medals, was also recognised for his historic achievement, as was the legendary Zola Budd who set world records during the 1980s and is now working as a development coach in Stellenbosch.