Johannesburg – Despite smashing his own SA record, 400m runner Wayde van Niekerk was modest about his first place at the Diamond League meeting in New York on Saturday.
Van Niekerk, 22, blew away the field to win in a time of 44.24 seconds as he surged to the line in the final straight. Christopher Brown of the Bahamas came second in 44.74 and in third American Tony McQuay crossed the line in 45.26.
“I just took it step by step today and tried to stay comfortable. I am happy with the results and I am looking forward to the rest of the season,” Van Niekerk said.
It was the second time in 12 months Van Niekerk managed to improve the South African record in New York. His winning time of 44.24 is 0.14 seconds faster than his previous record time of 44.38.
Kirani James from Canada, with times of 43.95 and 44.22, was the only athlete who was able to run faster times than the South African so far this season.
LJ van Zyl, meanwhile, ran his best time in three years to take second in the 400 metre men’s hurdle event in a time of 48.78.
It was the 63rd time in his illustrious career that he managed to run a time of faster than 49 seconds. Javier Culson of Puerto Rico won in 48.48.
“This race is the confidence booster I so badly needed, especially because there have been times during the past three years when I was not able to run the times I knew I was capable of,” said Van Zyl.
“After studying a video of our race, I realised that I am capable of running even faster times. Because it was so important for me to run a good race, I purposely had a somewhat cautious approach to the race. I badly wanted to break 49 seconds. What excites me is that I was able to run strongly in the home straight despite a headwind.”
Van Zyl’s performance earned the athlete an invite to the Diamond League Meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on July 9.
“My main goal now is to keep my momentum going up to the World Championships in Beijing. Apart from running in Lausanne, I will probably do another couple of races.”
Akani Simbine also impressed with the way he was able to hold his own against Tyson Gay (USA), Nesta Carter (Jamaica) and Keston Bledman (Trinidad-Tobago).
Running into a headwind of 1.7m/s, Gay won the race in 10.12. Keston was second in 10.13, Carter third in 10.15 and Simbine fourth in 10.18.
Bledman was disqualified for a false start but he ran under protest and was later reinstated. It mean Simbine was awarded third place.
“I am very happy with the way my race played out and with the progress I am making,” said Simbine.
“This was only my third international race and I can feel that my form is improving with every race. It was a pity about the wind today (Saturday) but I feel I did well with the way I fought right until the end.” – ANA