Confident Wayde van Niekerk makes World Champs 400m final

If anyone was counting, and Wayde van Niekerk was, it has been 1,786 days – or close to five years – since the 400m world record holder made a major athletics final.

But in the early hours of Thursday morning, on the Hayward Field track in Oregon, Van Niekerk turned back the clock to make the 2022 world championship final. 

It’s an event South Africa’s premier sprinter has won twice before – in 2015 and 2017. Between those triumphs he sandwiched in an Olympic gold in Rio 2016 in a world record time of 43.03 seconds.

Five years of injury and setbacks have plagued his career since the 2017 triumph in London, which included elimination at the semi-final stage at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021). 

For Van Niekerk, who told Daily Maverick last week, that he was confident of making the final, but also of improving as the year goes on, it’s vindication for the hard work he has put into his training base in Florida. 

Read more: Wayde van Niekerk — ‘I know the route and direction to get back to where I was’

Van Niekerk finished second behind American Champion Allison in his semi-final, to book an automatic qualifying place in the final. Van Niekerk’s time of 44.75 seconds was modest by his own standards and was only the fifth fastest overall in the semis, but he appeared to be running within himself.

“It is the challenge of doing this 400 [metres] and not having as many races in [the] legs as I would love to have by now,” Van Niekerk said after the race.

“It is a learning process in every race. I am listening to my body and executing that way.”

Van Niekerk’s theme stated in his post-race comments were consistent with the message he gave to Daily Maverick last week. He spoke intimately about “listening” to his body and planning race strategy accordingly.

“Winning a medal is always my goal, but I have to be patient and allow my body to go through the rounds respectfully and then see what comes my way,” Van Niekerk told Daily Maverick last week.

“Last year in Tokyo, my mentality was about ‘killing it’ every time I got on to the track. But I was so up and down so I have to have a more progressive and gradual mentality. My last race was a 44.5-sec and I believe that will get me into the 400m World Champs final.”

 

Wayde van Niekerk of Team South Africa looks on after competing in the Men's 400m heats on day three of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field on July 17, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images for World Athletics)

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