South African sprinter Bayanda Walaza won the men’s 100m at the Grand Prix Brescia in Italy on Sunday 29 August 2026 with a time of 10.00 seconds into a -0.2 headwind, beating Americans Courtney Lindsey and Trayvon Bromell. Image: Supplied
South African sprinter Bayanda Walaza won the men’s 100m at the Grand Prix Brescia in Italy with a time of 10.00 seconds into a -0.2 headwind. The Bayanda Walaza Grand Prix Brescia win came on Sunday 29 August 2026. Furthermore, Walaza beat American Courtney Lindsey who finished second in 10.09 seconds and Trayvon Bromell who took third in 10.16 seconds. As a result, Walaza produced one of the best performances of his career on the international athletics circuit.
Walaza was dominant from the start. The headwind of -0.2 made the 10.00 second time even more impressive. Running into any wind slows sprinters down. A sub-10.10 time in those conditions is world-class speed. Sam Blaskowski of the United States finished fourth in 10.19 seconds. Lachlan Kennedy of Australia finished fifth in 10.21 seconds. Furthermore, the quality of the field made Walaza’s win all the more significant. Bromell is a former world 100m bronze medallist. Lindsey has been among the fastest Americans in the world in 2026. As a result, Walaza beat some of the best sprinters on the planet on Sunday.
Walaza has been one of the most exciting young sprinters to come out of South Africa in years. He burst onto the international scene as a genuine sub-10 second threat. He developed his speed, start technique and race skills under his coaching team. His performances in Europe show that South African sprinting is in an exciting moment. The 100m rewards explosive power, technical precision and the ability to hold form under pressure. Furthermore, Walaza showed all three qualities in Brescia. As a result, he is no longer just a promising talent. He is a genuine world-level sprinter.
To understand why 10.00 seconds matters you need to know what it takes to run that fast. The world record is 9.58 seconds, set by Usain Bolt in 2009. Only a handful of men have ever broken the 10-second barrier. Doing so into a headwind makes it even rarer. A headwind of -0.2 means Walaza ran 10.00 seconds with the wind working against him. Furthermore, that puts him in elite company globally. As a result, Sunday’s run will be studied by coaches and analysts around the world as proof of where Walaza stands in global sprinting right now.
Walaza joins a growing group of South African sprinters making their mark on the world stage in 2026. Earlier in the year three South African sprinters won international 100m titles on the same day. South Africa has a proud sprinting history but the current group may be the most talented the country has ever produced. Investment in coaching, facilities and athlete development through Athletics South Africa has produced results at the highest level. Furthermore, what Walaza and his peers are achieving is not an accident. As a result, it is the product of years of hard work by athletes, coaches and administrators who believed South Africa could compete with the world’s best.
Trayvon Bromell has previously run 9.77 seconds. That is among the fastest times ever recorded in the 100m. Courtney Lindsey has been one of the most consistent American sprinters in 2026. Beating both of them in one race would have been a major achievement for any South African sprinter even a few years ago. Furthermore, doing it with a 10.00 second time into a headwind makes it even more remarkable. As a result, Walaza’s victory in Brescia deserves to be celebrated as one of the great performances in South African sprinting history.
The Grand Prix Brescia is a top invitational athletics meeting in Italy. It attracts elite sprinters and field athletes from across the world. Grand Prix meetings sit alongside the World Athletics Diamond League series and give athletes chances to race world-class fields outside of major championships. A win at this level carries real weight on the international circuit. Furthermore, the result will boost Walaza’s ranking heading into the final stretch of the 2026 athletics season. As a result, the South African athletics community has every reason to celebrate tonight.
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