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South Africa’s two-time world champion Wayde van Niekerk believes his mark will be difficult for anyone to surpass, nine years after smashing the 400m world record with a blistering 43.03 seconds.
The 33-year-old, who famously won Olympic gold at Rio 2016, has now shifted his focus to the 200m.
He will line up in the event at the ongoing World Senior Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Wednesday at 1:15pm (SA time) and will also feature in the 4x400m relay. His season’s best of 20.07 seconds secured his place at the global showpiece.
Next year marks a decade since Van Niekerk’s record-breaking run in Brazil, and he says it will take an extraordinary athlete to run under 43 seconds.
“We’re going into ten years next year and it’s such a blessing. Who would have thought a South African athlete could break both the world and Olympic record? For me, it’s an honour to call myself a world record holder,” he said.
“Breaking it won’t be easy. I’ve tried to push myself closer, but it’s easier said than done.
Running sub-43 is not easy—it will take an exceptional athlete. Even I won’t get back to that shape again.”
Despite his pedigree, Van Niekerk has played down his medal chances in Tokyo, admitting that he will need to break Clarence Munyai’s national record of 19.69 seconds, set in 2018, to contend for the podium.
“I’ll have to run the SA record to stand a chance of winning a medal at the championships,” he told SABC Sport.
Van Niekerk won world 400m gold in Beijing (2015) and London (2017). If he medals again in Japan, he will become the second South African athlete to claim medals at three different World Championships—equalling Caster Semenya, who won gold in 2009 (Berlin), 2011 (Daegu) and London (2017).
“You never know. Most of the guys competing now were there when I won my first gold in Beijing, and a year later, no one expected me to set a world record and win in Rio. If my body holds up, maybe I can win a medal and become the most successful. For now, I’ll take it one race at a time,” Van Niekerk said.
