“I am coming for everything” – Tumi Ramokgopa eyes #LA2028 after World U20 success

Sprint Hurdler Tumi Ramokgopa has already set her sights higher after a near-perfect conclusion to her junior career at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene.

The 18-year old clinched two silver medals, helping South Africa achieve its second biggest medal haul in the competition since the nine won in Nairobi in 2021.

Jan-Hendrik Heymans won javelin gold with a personal best 80.50m. The men’s 4x400m relay team added another silver, while Jaco van Dyk (shot put), Marko Ferreira (100m), Leendert Koekemoer (400m) and Matodzi Ndou (400m hurdles) each grabbed a bronze, as SA ended 10th with eight medals.

Ramokgopa proudly holds up the two medals she won at the World Athletics U20Championships in the United States. Photo Credit: Lebohang Pita.

Just as she promised at the ASA age-group champs at Germiston Stadium in March, Ramokgopa, coached by George Bradley, has vowed to come for everything after producing one of the best performances of her blossoming career at the junior worlds.

“The world now knows my name. As I said at the Germiston Stadium, this is my introduction to the world. I am coming for everything. I am hungrier than I have ever been,” she told #TheTopRunner after landing back home on Tuesday night.

Following up on a successful local season, which included becoming the first South African female U20 athlete to break 13 seconds in the 100m hurdles when she clocked 12.93 in March, the Gauteng North teenager reintroduced herself to the world in the most remarkable way.

SA's Men's 4x400m team won the silver medal. Leendert Koekemoer, who took bronze in the individual 400m, returned home with two medals. Photo Credit: Supplied.

She clinched silver in the 100m hurdles in 12.96, which was just 0.03 seconds off her lifetime best, before remarkably adding the 400m hurdles silver in a new personal best 55.88 seconds, shaving 0.02 seconds off her previous mark.

“I’m happy, I’m proud, I’m so emotional, but I’m truly beyond grateful. I'm a bit overwhelmed by everything, but beyond that, I am truly grateful. It is really an honour. God has blessed me so much.”

Two years after the disappointment of her debut world junior champs in Lima, where she returned medal-less albeit with valuable lessons, Hayward Field in America’s athletics capital provided the perfect stage for her reintroduction to the world.

Ramokgopa and coach George Bradley share an emotional embrace after the junior set a new SAU20 100m hurdles record at the Germiston Stadium in March. Photo Credit: Lebohang Pita.

“What happened in Lima was an experience. I had to learn and adjust. There were so many things I learned about myself, and I took everything I learned there into the World Junior Championships,” she said.

“Hayward Field was magical. I went in with the mindset that I was going to double and be a medallist. I had worked hard for that. I put all my nerves aside and took them as a weapon. I went in full armour and told God it was now or never," she said after clocking a lifetime best 55.88 to finish as the runner-up in the 400m hurdles just a day after taking silver in the sprint hurdles.

The Prestige College alumna who is now a student at the University of Pretoria (Tuks) said her biggest target now is the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, where she could line-up against her idol, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

“#LA2028 is one of my biggest goals. I’m looking forward to achieving it. Sydney is a competitor to me. I won’t talk myself back because she’s someone I look up to. I’ll put myself out there to show that you can look up to someone, but it doesn’t mean they can always beat you.”