Francesca Villette, Lisa Isaacs and Ockert de Villiers
ATHLETICS champion Wayde van Niekerk’s family is confident that he will continue to shine at the upcoming Olympic Games after he became the first man in history to run faster than 10 seconds for 100m, 20 seconds for 200m and 44 seconds for 400m.
He broke his personal best time of 10.45 seconds in the 100m sprint when he covered the distance in 9.98 seconds at the Free State Championships in Bloemfontein on Saturday. According to athletics statistician Jon Mulkeen, the South African athlete moved from 21st to fifth on the list of all-round sprinters using sprinters’ personal best times in the 100m, 200m and 400m and the latest IAAF scoring tables.
Jamaican icon Usain Bolt tops the list with his world records of 9.59 seconds in the 100m and 19.19 seconds in the 200m.
Van Niekerk surprised almost everyone, himself included.