Top South African sprinter Benji Richardson is switching his allegiance to Ireland and could be eligible in time for the next World Athletics Championships in 2027.
The 21-year-old Richardson has a 100 metres best of 9.86 seconds and last represented South Africa at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He’s also run the 200m in 19.99 seconds and has won multiple sprint medals at the World Under-20 Athletics Championships.
Born in Ireland but raised in South Africa, Richardson already holds dual South African-Irish citizenship, but under World Athletics rules, a waiting period of at least three years is normally required from the last time athletes represented their old country.
That would leave him eligible for Ireland from September 2027, the same month the 2027 World Championships take place in Beijing, and in ample time to qualify for Ireland for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
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On occasion this waiting period has been reduced to one year with approval from all three federations – in this case Athletics Ireland, South African Athletics, and World Athletics.
His Dutch agent Jelle Broekhuisen has confirmed to South African news site The Citizen of his pending move, and that Athletics Ireland have already submitted an application on behalf of Richardson to the World Athletics Nationality Review Panel.
“The waiting period varies, but we hope it’s no longer than three years,” Broekhuisen said. “This means he can potentially represent Ireland at the World Championships in September 2027.”
Following his injury problems after the Paris Olympics, Richardson was reportedly unhappy with the support from South African athletics and the South African Olympic committee.
One of South Africa’s most promising athletes, Richardson ran his 100m best of 9.86 seconds in Switzerland in July of 2024, the second fastest time run by a South African behind Akani Simbine (9.82).
Richardson also clocked 19.99 seconds for the 200m at the same meeting in Switzerland last year, before running 19.79 this summer, although that time was ruled out for record purposes because the wind of +2.3m/s was just over the legal limit.
He studied at the University of Pretoria and his times of 9.86 and 19.99 also mean he is one of only four South African sprinters (after Simbine, Wayde van Niekerk and Shaun Maswanganyi) to have run under 10 seconds over 100m and under 20 seconds over the 200m.
At the 2021 World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Kenya he won silver in the 100m and also won gold as part of the South African 4x100m relay, which broke the world Under-20 record when running 38.51 seconds.
At the 2022 World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Colombia Richardson won bronze in the 100m, and in 2023 was the youngest member of the South African team at the World Championships in Budapest.
At the Paris Olympics, he reached the semi-finals of the 100m, where he ran 9.95 seconds to finish third and missed out on the final by one place. He later pulled up early in the 200m with a hamstring injury.
Once Richardson, who turns 22 in December, competes for Ireland he will not be allowed to represent South Africa again.
Although his current 100m and 200m times of 9.86 and 19.99 are faster than the Irish records – the 10.08 set by Isreal Olatunde this summer, and the 20.30 set by Paul Hession in 2007 – Richardson will only be eligible to claim those records once his times are run under his Irish allegiance.
