Wayde van Niekerk impressed in the men’s 400m heats at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, continuing his excellent form this year.
On Sunday Van Niekerk, comfortably won his heat in a time of 44.57 seconds, even slowing down near the end as he looked to avoid over-exerting himself.
The world record holder and 2016 Olympic champion, looks to be back to his best since his serious knee injury in 2017.
"These championships are just about putting my best foot forward and seeing what happens," he said after the race. "It was a positive race. I felt strong, felt good. I've been running some solid times so I feel I'm coming back towards my best.
"Only time can tell when I get back where I was. We'll see what happens. Every opportunity to compete at this level is important. I'm just trying to keep a positive mindset with the Olympics coming up next year. Here, it's just about going round by round and seeing what happens. My body feels good, and the injury is all clear, 100 percent.”
The 31-year-old Van Niekerk will be in action again on Tuesday in the 400m semi-final heat at 9pm.
In the men’s 100m semi-final heats on Sunday, Akani Simbine was left thoroughly disappointed. Simbine false started in his event, and after deliberation with officials he agreed that his disqualification was fair as he opted not to run in protest - if he disagreed with the ruling.
Zeney van der Walt, if everything goes according to plan, should advance to the semi-finals of the women’s 400m hurdles on Monday.
Van der Walt is the third highest ranked runner in her heat at 7.06pm, at 18th in the world. However, the 23-year-old’s season’s best of 54.82 is the fifth fastest among her competition in the heat.
Just over two hours later, Van der Walt will be in action in the evening session again at 9.12pm, competing in the 400m heats. The odds will be stacked even higher for Van der Walt there, as she is the second lowest ranked runner in her heat and will have very little time to recover from her earlier race.
Also in action on Monday will be Mire Reinstorf in the women’s pole vault qualifying starting at 6.40pm.
IOL Sport