The University of Johannesburg sprinter has spent the season building towards a breakthrough. At his first All-Africa University Games, he produced the fastest 100 metres of his career.

By Victor Oluwaseun Olabisi

In the 100 metres, progress is measured in fractions. For Tshepo Jason Tyantini, Cairo delivered another two-hundredths of a second—and brought one of sprinting’s most celebrated milestones firmly within sight.

The South African stopped the clock at a personal-best 10.09 seconds to win the men’s 100m title at the 12th All-Africa University Games. It was the fastest performance of his career, placing him just nine-hundredths above the 10-second mark and within a tenth of becoming a sub-10 sprinter.

“I feel good. I’m truly amazed. I’m beyond grateful,” Tyantini said shortly after the race.

A season built on consistency

The victory continued a season of steady progress for the 21-year-old University of Johannesburg sprinter.

In March, Tyantini finished second in the men’s 100m final at the South African U23 Championships, clocking 10.32 seconds. 

A month later, he won the men’s 100m at the University Sport South Africa Track and Field Championships in Cape Town in 10.34 seconds. His performance contributed to the University of Johannesburg retaining the overall team title after collecting 347 points and 38 medals. 

The breakthrough gathered pace in August when he lowered his personal best to 10.11 seconds at a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting in Bhubaneswar, India. Less than a month later, he arrived in Cairo and reduced that mark again. 

“It’s just been about staying consistent,” he explained. “I knew when you’re consistent, you just know that each and every time you drop a time, it’s going to be a banger.”

Cairo presented a different stage. It was Tyantini’s first FASU Games, but the first-year Logistics student arrived in Egypt with the confidence developed through an entire season of consistent competition.

His 10.09-second performance therefore felt less like an isolated surprise and more like the latest step in a carefully built progression.

Turning disappointment into motivation

Not every part of Tyantini’s journey has been defined by medals and personal bests.

He remembers the previous season as a particularly difficult period. Despite feeling that he was performing well, he did not see the progress he expected. Rather than allow the disappointment to define him, he used it as motivation for the year ahead.

“I just closed that season and took it as motivation and, yeah, it pumped me for this year,” he said.

For an athlete whose progress is constantly measured by a stopwatch, those quieter periods can be difficult to explain to people outside the sport.

Tyantini spoke openly about the frustration of competing in races with financial rewards attached to finishing positions, only to narrowly miss out. He also described the psychological strain of training without seeing the desired improvement in his performances.

“The toughest thing about being an athlete is having the opportunity to run races that pay and then come fourth,” he said. “It’s just depressing, honestly—and not even seeing any progression in your runs and stuff.”

His response to those challenges has been straightforward: continue working.

“Keep going. Life in general is just about pushing,” he said. “So, I just use that as motivation to do better on the track.”

That mindset now underpins a season in which Tyantini has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to compete at a higher level. His performances in South Africa established the foundation, while the 10.11 in India confirmed that a major breakthrough was approaching.

Cairo provided it.

Chasing the next fraction

The next objective is clear: break 10 seconds.

“Let’s just be consistent with the 10.0s,” Tyantini said when asked about his ambitions. “We have to break the barrier.”

For an athlete still in his first year at university, that ambition carries an additional challenge. Tyantini must balance studying Logistics at the University of Johannesburg with the growing demands of an athletics career that is beginning to command greater attention.

It is a familiar reality within university sport: lectures and assignments alongside training sessions and competitions; moments of celebration balanced against the solitary work required when the stopwatch does not move in the desired direction.

Tyantini’s advice to other student-athletes is uncomplicated.

“Lock in. Believe in yourself. It’s all in your head,” he said. “Just don’t let your brain tell you unbelievable things. Just go and get it.”

Asked to choose between talent and discipline, his response captured the principle behind his progression from a promising university sprinter to an athlete now standing on the edge of one of track and field’s most recognisable milestones.

“Without discipline, it is just a waste, honestly,” he said. “You can be talented, but talent can only get you to a certain place. Discipline is going to get you far.”

In Cairo, talent provided the speed, but discipline delivered the progression. The clock now reads 10.09 seconds.

Tyantini’s next target begins with a nine.