Young student’s sights set on medal at World Junior Athletics Championships
One of the most promising young athletes from Pretoria, who until recently was the face of athletics at Prestige College in Hammanskraal, is a first-year student at Tuks this year and although she is already used to competing against senior athletes, her focus in 2026 is on winning a medal for her country in August at the World Athletics U.20 Championships in America.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Tumi Ramokgopa perfected the art of winning on the athletics track last year.
Statistics don’t lie. Of the 28 races Ramokgopa competed in last year, the 18-year old first-year Tuks student won 25 and finished second three times. She finished second at a Grand Prix meeting, racing against the South African senior record holder, Marioné Fourie, in the 100 m hurdles. At the South African senior champs, she was second in the 400 m hurdles heats as well as the final.
It probably goes without saying that Ramokgopa has also won many titles. She is the South African u.20 champion in the 100m and 400m hurdles and the South African senior 100m hurdles champion. At the African Junior Championships in Nigeria, she also won both hurdles events.
Of course she has also broken records, like the SA u.20 record for the 100m hurdles, which she has improved twice in 2025. She ended her season with a time of 13.15 seconds. In the history of South African women’s athletics, only six athletes have run faster times in this event.
Ramokgopa believes she is capable of even faster times, but immediately adds that she is in no rush.
“All that matters to me is to know that every time I compete, I gave it my all. I want to keep improving. It is also important for me to seize every opportunity that comes my way. The big goal is to win a medal at the World Junior Athletics Championships. In 2024, I finished third in the semi-finals in the 400m hurdles. So to me, this is the year of redemption,” Ramokgopa said during a recent interview.
Photo: Supplied
The 13.15 seconds that Ramokgopa ran last year was one of the seven fastest times in the world in u.20 athletics.
“My ultimate goal is to represent South Africa at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. To be able to call myself an Olympian would be incredible,” she remarked.
The young Tuks student will only turn 19 in August. This raises the question of how she feels about competing against much older athletes.
“It doesn’t bother me. I have been competing against older athletes since I was 15. It is not a big deal. It is a way to become a better athlete. I can’t wait to see what the seniors have in store for me. The one thing I will have to work on is my speed,” she replied confidently.
So, which of the 100m or 400m hurdles events is her favourite?
“I like them both, I can’t actually choose,” she answered without hesitation.
But if you listen, when she talks, it sounds as if the day she has to choose, it would be the 400m hurdles.
“I love everything about the 400m hurdles. My strength is that I can lead with both legs. Meaning I have the skill to use either the right or left leg as the first leg over the hurdle,” she explained.
Ramokgopa took up hurdling at the age of nine.
“I wanted to do something different. My friends found hurdling hard, but I saw it as a challenge and after I mastered the technique, I fell in love with hurdles,” she concluded.
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