Wayde van Niekerk wins Olympic Gold in new world record time
RIO - South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk is the new world record holder in the 400m run
South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk is the new world record holder in the 400m run. He won the Olympic crown in 43.03sec in a dominating gold medal performance at the Rio Olympic Games early this morning (South African time).
With this astounding feat, Van Niekerk managed to chop 15 hundredths of a second off the 400m record set by Michael Johnson in 1999.
An excited Van Niekerk said after the race: “I would love to give you a long story but I’ve already said, “God is great. I let everything in his hands tonight. I need to see the race to believe it. I can’t even tell you what happened in the race. I was blind all the way.”
What impressed 400m experts, even more, is the fact that Van Niekerk did it from Lane 8. Commentating on the race for the BBC, Michael Johnson said early this morning that no runner has ever won a championship in the 400m from this lane. Reacting to his 17-year-old record being broken Johnson said: “He is so young. This young man has done something truly special.”
Johnson added that he believes Van Niekerk will be the athlete who will one day break the 43-second barrier in the 800 meter.
