He is arguably the greatest South African track and field athlete in modern history, and there’s still a lot more to come.
Wayde van Niekerk celebrates his 25th birthday today, July 15, and we felt it’s the right time to have a throwback to last August, when he took gold and destroyed Michael Johnson’s 400m world record in a sensational time of 43.03 seconds!
American Johnson’s 17-year-old mark was 43.18, and was one of those which most pundits thought would never be broken.
But they didn’t count on a young man who hails from Cape Town and now calls Bloemfontein home.
Van Niekerk had it in his genes, as his mother Odessa Swarts was a champion sprinter in the non-racial Sacos fold as well.
And, as fate would have it, it is also his fiancée Chesney Campbell’s birthday today! Campbell turns 25 as well, and the pair took to Instagram to wish each other happy birthday.
A post shared by Chesney Campbell (@chesney_campbell) on Jul 15, 2017 at 4:18am PDT
Van Niekerk will next be in action at the Herculis meeting on July 21 in Monaco, and then of course the big one this year is the IAAF world championships in London from August 4-13, where he will compete in both the 200m and 400m.
A post shared by Wayde van Niekerk (@waydedreamer) on Jul 15, 2017 at 4:22am PDT