Wayde wins again, as local athletics returns in Potch

It was nothing flashy, but Wayde van Niekerk produced another solid performance on Tuesday night, as the domestic track and field season resumed in Potchefstroom.

Turning out at an Athletics Central North West league meeting, as the sport was restarted after a lengthy coronavirus shutdown, Van Niekerk won the men’s 400m race.

Though he slipped out the blocks at the start, the world record holder recovered sufficiently to secure victory in 45.89 seconds.

The result was 0.31 outside his season’s best over the one-lap distance, set in Switzerland in September, and nearly three seconds outside the global best of 43.03 he set to win the 2016 Olympic title in Rio.

Van Niekerk remained unbeaten over all sprint distances (100m, 200m and 400m) in his comeback season, however, after bouncing back from a serious knee injury earlier this year, which had kept him sidelined since 2017.

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