No limits for Nkoana, back on global track in Lima after Olympic silver

He might already be an Olympic medallist, but Bradley Nkoana has no doubt as to the importance of the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 as a key step in his career.

The men’s 100m final on Wednesday (28) will feature two Olympic medallists, as Nkoana lines up alongside his South African 4x100m teammate Bayanda Walaza, plus their fellow Olympian Puripol Boonson of Thailand.

In Paris earlier this month, Nkoana and Walaza teamed up with Akani Simbine and Shaun Maswanganyi to set an African record of 37.57 to secure 4x100m silver – the nation’s first ever Olympic medal in the event.

Now Nkoana and Walaza are on the hunt for age group honours, contesting the 100m final on Wednesday evening before returning to relay duty on Friday and, should all go to plan, on Saturday to race for further 4x100m medal success.

“Being here is a blessing and I feel like being at this competition is a milestone towards my career,” says Nkoana. “I was also in the 2022 edition (of the World U20 Championships), but unfortunately I didn’t get to run, I had an injury. But I had my coach there to tell me that there’s still a next one, so just prepare yourself, anything can happen. Being here at this championship, I’m really grateful for it. I’m looking to bring my A-game.”

The 19-year-old starts as the quickest in the 100m field, thanks to the national U20 record of 10.03 he set in La Chaux-de-Fonds last month, but just five thousandths of a second separates the five fastest in the field when it comes to PBs.

“I’m just preparing myself to show my best out there and compete with the guys,” Nkoana adds. “There are a lot of competitors here that are really strong and hopefully we give them a show.”

It was while playing with his friends as a child that Nkoana first noticed his speed.

“I remember when I was in grade four, I asked my coach if I could race with the senior guys and I actually won,” he reflects. “Since then, I thought: ‘Bradley, this is where you belong’.”

While he initially saw himself as a football player, it was his grandmother who encouraged Nkoana into athletics and she is the person the rising sprinter names as his inspiration. “My grandma really put me in line, saying: ‘Bradley, you are an athlete – this is you. If you don’t see it now, you’ll see it later'," says Nkoana, whose mother used to do high jump and whose father played basketball. "I feel like that’s how my journey began.”

He met his current coach, Paul Gorries, while training in Pretoria and they now work together out of Potchefstroom, where his training group includes Benjamin Richardson, who claimed world U20 100m silver in 2021 and bronze in 2022.

“My coach not only nurtured my talent, but he prepared me for the world mentally, all those other things,” Nkoana says. “The times he was hard on me, I never understood why, but as time goes on you understand that he’s hard on you because he sees something in you and you also have to dig deep to realise that I’m actually someone in this world. Him being in my life played a huge a role. He is the reason why I am here today.”

And Gorries can certainly speak from experience, as he won the world U20 200m title in Santiago de Chile in 2000 before a senior career that featured Commonwealth Games and African Championships medals.

“He is young, he is ambitious. He gets ahead of himself a little bit! So, it’s my job to just tone it down,” says Gorries. “But you know, at that age, when you are doing so well, I can relate.

“I have been in the sport for a long while so it’s my job, not just the coaching part, but to help them find a balance. The past two seasons it has been good, but like I always remind them, this is just the beginning, and if you don’t get things right now you might pay for it later on in your career.”

For Gorries, things have come full circle. “It is quite a journey, coaching now – I sometimes call it payback for the hard times I gave my coach, when they give it to me!” he laughs. “But it has been a good journey so far and hopefully this is the start of bigger and better things to come.”

The next step is Lima, where Nkoana will use the great experience he gained in being guided by Gorries to that Olympic 4x100m medal. While there is much to reflect on, one moment really stands out to the teenager.

“The look on Akani’s face when he realised that we actually brought a medal back for South Africa,” Nkoana says. “We know how much it means to him, to the team, to the country. We always knew that we had the guys to do it, but we just never had the resources or funds to put the team into a position where they could actually medal. Once this year they made a final decision that we’ll make camps and all of that, I feel like being out there with the guys and bonding is what I will cherish the most.”

That silver medal must now be one of Nkoana's most prized possessions, so did he bring it with him to Lima?

“My agent told me not to bring it,” he smiles. “But every third day I ask my dad to take a picture!

“Being in Paris was just a good experience,” he adds. “I was able to handle myself well and coming into this championship, I feel like I am more ready, I am more focused, and I have high expectations of myself. My teammate Benjamin Richardson has set a high standard in our group and I am looking forward to also putting that high standard out as well.”

So Richardson has helped to inspire Nkoana, who in turn will surely be inspiring the next generation.

Speaking to the world’s press in Lima on the eve of the championships, Nkoana was asked by a member of the World Athletics Media Development Programme for the advice he would share with younger athletes who also have Olympic medal ambitions.

“Don’t limit yourself,” he replied. “Even if you feel like you are the youngest, to the world you are someone and you have value. So don’t limit yourself and anything is possible. Just run your heart out and have fun. That’s always important – just have fun.”

Jess Whittington for World Athletics