Wayde van Niekerk wrote his name in the stars at Rio 2016 - ‘He wouldn’t slow down’

Wayde van Niekerk is unquestionably the greatest sprinter South Africa has produced. He was the first person in history to run under 10 seconds in the 100m, under 20 seconds in the 200m and under 44 seconds in the 400m sprints.

He has subsequently been joined by American duo Michael Norman and Fred Kerley, who both have achieved this incredible feat.

Despite showing talent early in both 100m and 200m sprinting, Van Niekerk focused the bulk of the primary stages of his professional athletic career perfecting the track distance.

At 25 years old, in 2017, he decided to adjust his focus to the shorter sprints and recorded blistering personal-best times of 9.94 seconds in the 100m and 19.84 in the 200m in June of that year.

In August, on the eve of the IAAF World Championships in London, where Van Niekerk won the 400m title and was within grasp of the 200m gold medal, Jamaican sprint icon Usain Bolt said of the South African: “He will take over, without a doubt.”

Bolt retired after those 2017 World Championships and had hoped to pass the baton to Van Niekerk.

His prophecy didn’t come to fruition, however, as Van Niekerk suffered a debilitating anterior cruciate ligament knee injury while playing in a celebrity touch rugby match in Cape Town, which permanently curtailed his prodigious sprinting ability. He went for surgery immediately and underwent rehabilitation for six months.

It also meant that he missed the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in which he was a favourite to complete the 100m and 200m double.

Since fully recovering from the injury, Van Niekerk’s times across all three sprint distances have failed to reach the standards it did before his injury.

Championship material

Nevertheless, the highs that Van Niekerk reached, though short-lived, remain uncharted territory for any other athlete. As a 23-year-old in 2015, he began to run times in the 400m that placed him among the best in the world.

In the middle of the year he broke the 44-second barrier for the first time and also clocked under 20 seconds in the 200m for the second time in his career.

At the IAAF World Championships later that year, in Beijing, Van Niekerk squared off against his two biggest rivals: Kirani James from Grenada and LaShawn Merritt from the US.

James had won the 400m Olympic gold medal at the London Games in 2012, and Merritt had the gold medal around his neck in 2008 in Beijing. But now a new competitor had stepped onto the track.

Van Niekerk beat his two biggest rivals on that day in a time of 43.48 seconds. Merritt came in second (43.65) and James third (43.78). It was the first time in history that three runners had run under 44 seconds in the same race.

These World Championships set up a tasty Olympic Games, with all three hitting their prime running form.

An Olympic champion

Van Niekerk – South Africa’s opening ceremony flag bearer – entered the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 as world champion, but it was Merritt who had all the form, coming into the Games as the only athlete to have run  under 44 seconds that season.

Van Niekerk cruised to victory in heat three in 45.26 seconds in the Brazilian capital without really exerting himself. In his semifinal race the next day he only just ran fast enough to make the final the following day. He was the second-slowest automatic qualifier in the second semifinal with a time of 44.45 seconds, finishing second behind Trinidad and Tobago’s Machel Cedenio.

Wayde van Niekerk wins the 400m at the 2016 Rio Olympics. (Photo: Quinn Rooney / Getty Images)

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.