Wednesday 25 January 2017

Van Niekerk back on track this weekend

It feels just like yesterday when we all watched Wayde van Niekerk romping to 400m victory at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. That was something hey.

Well the 24 year old Olympic champion returns to the track this weekend were he is scheduled to compete in the 100m and 200m events at a local schools meeting in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

"Yes, I am running this weekend but we'll see because I haven't trained much," he told the Sowetan.

He will compete there alongside other local senior athletes who have been granted permission to compete as part of Athletics Free State's preparations for the national championships.

It will be the first time that the sprinter lines up for a race since shattering Michael Johnson's 400m world record at the Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil, last year.

Van Niekerk is expected to defend his world title at the IAAF World Championships in London in August.

The world's spotlight will be on him now that he has lowered the 400m best time to 43.03 seconds.