'I just wanna run' - Tiisetso Malungane emerges as one of SA's brightest middle distance prospects of 2025

Of all the noteworthy performances dished out by South African athletes this season, including medals won at the highest level, one man used 2025 to establish himself as a coming force on the local athletics scene. Still just a youth athlete, Tiisetso Malungane set the track alight with personal best performances from 800m (1:52.71) to 5km to end the year as both AGN and SA U16 Champion over 800m and 1500m.

"This year was the best year of my athletics career so far," he told #TheTopRunner. "There was so much excitement. I ran the whole year undefeated in my age category and I was also able to urn SA Records," he said reflecting on the three national records he produced including a mouthwatering 3:53.01 at the national age group championships at the Greenpoint Stadium in March to improve on the mark that had been set by Mandla Maseko in the year 2001.

Malungane enjoying some relaxation time after participating in the inaugural Boxer Super Run Joburg 5km on 9 November where competing in the senior category against Olympians and SA Senior Champions he took 15th overall on the hilly route in 16:09. Photo Credit: MWMedia.

Yet despite his heroics over two laps of the track and the metric mile, observers agree that it is over 5000m where the 15-year-old could enjoy the most success. Malungane showed himself to be one of the country’s best 5000m prospects in decades when he clocked a lifetime best 8:28.60 to win the 3000m at the NWU Top 30 Meet at 1300m above sea level in Potchefstroom in what was the fastest time ever run by a South African U16 boy.

Coached by his mother Catherine Malungane who was a tough as nails half marathoner, marathoner and ultra marathoner, the Curro Hazeldean learner is also the son of a former top runner Nkosinoxolo Sonqibido who represented SA at the World Cross Country Championships and World Half Marathon Championships and ran alongside the likes of Stephen Mokoka and Gladwin Mzazi in the formidable Transet team of fifteen years ago. But inheriting the right running genes is only one part of the success equation. Malungane says his relationship with his mother has allowed hims to blossom.

Malungane in action at the ASA Age Group Championships in Cape Town in March where he won the both the 800m and 1500m U16 titles. Photo Credit: Cecilia van Bers.

"My mom is my first coach. She's the one that understands me. I can talk to her and we make the training programme together," he explains.

Having rewritten the record books in 2025, the lanky top runner can now look ahead to 2026 with confidence. Yet while he wishes to do Mzansi proud at the Youth Olympics in Senegal next October and possibly qualify to wear the green and gold at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon in the United States, his main goal remains the same. He simply wants to run."

"Maybe I can go to the Youth Olympics or the World Junior Championships and come back with medals. I love running because it’s something I grew up with. I feel the love for athletics. I just wanna run."