'I'm in the best shape of my life' - Mbatha spearheads SA Team to World Athletics U20 Championships in Peru

As the reigning Athletics South Africa (ASA) U18 400m hurdles champion, all eyes will be on Njabulo Mbatha who will spearhead the South African Team that will take part in the World Athletics U20 Championships in Peru next week. The Tuks Sport High School Grade 11 learner who triumphed over the talented Matodzi Ndou to win that gold medal at the Pilditch Stadium in March is looking forward to making his World Athletics international debut and says his coach Irma Reynecke has pulled out all the stops to make sure that he is ready.

Mbatha is excited about making his World U20 Championships debut. Photo Credit: Lifutso Mabua.

"Even though I couldn’t have a European season and we haven’t had any races here in South Africa since the track and field season ended, my coach still made a plan. We’ve been racing during training and acting as if it’s actual competition. My training partners have also been helping to get that race fitness. So I feel more than prepared. I'm at my peak and I'm in the best shape of my life right now," he explained.

With a personal best of 49.57 set during the ASA Senior Track and Field Championships in Msunduzi in April where he won the bronze medal against men more than ten years his senior, the 17-year-old is officially the fastest U18 400m hurdler in the world. Rather than being a source of pressure, the calm and soft-spoken young man who originally hails from KwaZulu-Natal says he is excited to test himself against the best that the world has to offer.

Mbatha in action at the 2024 ASA Senior Track & Field Championships in Pietermaritzburg in April. Photo Credit: Cecilia van Bers.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself because I haven’t necessarily claimed that number one status yet on the world stage. In June I went to Russia for the BRICS Games and I got some experience of the media, the crowds and all of that. It’s a taste of what I’m going to get at World Juniors. I’m looking forward to claiming it and making my title under my name. Anything can happen when I get there, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself."

With that maturity and at peak fitness, Mbatha is one of SA's medal hopefuls alongside fellow 400m hurdler Tumi Ramokgopa, 100m and 200m sprinter Viwe Jingqi, 200m and 400m sprinter Charne Vermeulen, the long jump duo of Timeke-Jade Coetzee and Temoso Masikane and Olympic silver medalist Bayanda Walaza who will be one of the favourites to win the 100m title at the competition which runs from 26-31 August in the Peruvian city of Lima.

Members of the SA U20 World Championships team gathered at the University of Johannesburg track on Friday 23 August before departing for the Peruvian capital of Lima on Saturday 24 August. Photo Credit: Lifutso Mabua.

During the last edition of the championships which took place in the Colombian City of Cali in 2022, Team SA brought home five medals to finish in fifth place out of 41 nations. ASA President James Moloi is confident that this team can do just as well. "We need to work together to help encourage these youngsters. Now that we have started with these youngsters we are looking forward to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. We have a new schools athletics programme that we have launched and will start next year. It is going to help us find more talent," Moloi said.