Cape Town - He is busy with his studies and wasn’t going to compete initially, but 400m world champion Wayde van Niekerk has decided to have one more outing on home soil before starting his build-up to the Olympic Games.
Athletics South Africa confirmed on Thursday that Van Niekerk will run in his specialist 400m event at the SA Open Track and Field Championships in Bloemfontein this weekend.
He is a marketing student at the University of the Free State, so perhaps the fact that the meet will be on his home track had something to do with him taking part. The 23-year-old, who clinched the 400m title at the world championships in Beijing last year, has held himself back in his favourite event in 2016, with his quickest time being the 44.98 seconds he clocked in Stellenbosch to win the SA title in April.
Van Niekerk has worked hard on his speed in the first quarter of the year, running a remarkable 9.98 in the 100m in March on the very same Manguang Athletics Stadium track that will host the SA Open.
He produced a 10.03 last weekend in winning the SA Students title in Polokwane, while he was victorious in the 200m as well in 20.35. But Van Niekerk opted not to travel to Doha in Qatar for Friday’s opening Diamond League meeting of the year.
He is unlikely to go all out in Friday’s heats or Saturday’s final at the SA Open, with his shift into Olympics mode only likely to happen when he attends a training camp in Jamaica with Usain Bolt at the start of June, and SA 100m record-holder Akani Simbine will accompany him to Kingston.
SA 100m champion Henricho Bruintjies announced on Facebook earlier this week that he was going to run in Bloemfontein, but he was not on the entry list provided by Athletics South Africa on Thursday. However, his coach Werner Prinsloo told Independent Media that the “Blitz from Klapmuts” was in Bloemfontein.
“He is already there, but there was a misunderstanding, which is why he is not on the entry list. He thought that his province would enter him, but in this event you have to enter yourself, and he didn’t do that,” Prinsloo said.
“So he will be speaking to the organisers there to give him a late entry. He is definitely going to run, he must run.” Bruintjies took great pleasure out of beating Simbine to the national title in Stellenbosch, and is in good shape.
“We are hoping that Henricho can run a fast time this weekend (the 100m final is on Friday afternoon), and he is feeling confident at the moment,” Prinsloo said. “After this meet, he has a few races lined up in Europe from the end of May until mid-June, and then he will take part in the African Championships in Durban at the end of June before the Olympics.”
Other notable athletes at the SA Open are Lindsey Hanekom, who will be searching for an Olympic qualifying time in the men’s 400m hurdles, as well as veteran Khotso Mokoena in the triple jump.
On the female front, World Student champion Maties’ Justine Palframan will compete in the 200m and 400m sprints, while Youth Olympic champion Gezelle Magerman will run in the 400m hurdles.
@IndyCapeSport
Independent Media