TEENAGE sensation Sokwakhana Zazini has the world at his feet.
The athlete from the Eastern Cape joined TuksSport High School last year and is the latest prospect in a rich history of SA’s 400m hurdles.
He also specialises in the 100m.The 17-year-old is in line to follow in the footsteps of great athletes like Wayde van Niekerk and Akani Simbine.
Zazini became the new 400m World Youth record holder having spent less than a year in Gauteng.
His incredible rise to stardom saw him nominated for the SA Sports Awards in the Newcomer of the Year category, alongside cricketer Keshav Maharaj and tennis player Lloyd Harris.
Talking to SunSport about his nomination, Zazini said: “It’s a great honour for me to be nominated for the SA Sport Awards. It’s a sign that I’m doing the right thing.”
Zazini set his new World Youth record of 48.84 seconds in March at the Athletics Gauteng North Championships held in Pretoria. He crushed American William Waynne’s 10-year record of 49.01 seconds.
During the IAAf World Championships that were in Nairobi in June, Zazini won Gold in the 400m hurdles with the time of 49.27 seconds displaying his potential on the world stage for the first time in his fledgling career.
Zazini, who is doing Grade 11, has now set his sights on qualifying for next year’s IAAF World U-20 Championships Tampere in Finland.
He told SunSport: “Next year, I want to break my 48.84 seconds record that I’m currently holding. I want to remain the best.”
