OPINION: Welcome back Wayde; we missed you

After flaunting his form at the weekend, winning the national 400m title at the SA Athletics Championships, Wayde van Niekerk asked the media to use a certain headline in our reports: ‘We missed you Wayde’.

Suggesting headlines to journalists never goes down well. We can figure it out ourselves. But in this instance, we can make an exception.

When Van Niekerk smashed his knee playing touch rugby in 2017 it seemed like that was it. Fighting back from that appeared nearly impossible.

While it has taken a long time, however, he has made a spectacular comeback, clawing his was back into form.

At the national championships last week, he wasn’t just good. He was awesome.

ALSO READ: Wayde van Niekerk eyes World Champs podium: ‘I’ve got hope again’

Van Niekerk is the most incredible athlete in South Africa’s track and field stable. Not only is he talented, but he is remarkably tough, possessing the ability to push himself through levels of pain and fatigue that most human beings would not be able to handle.

But after hurting his knee it seemed like we might never see him in full flight again.

As good as he looked last year, finally finding some form again after struggling to bounce back, it still remained unclear whether he would return to his best. But he made a significant statement on Saturday, storming to victory in 44.17 seconds.

He wasn’t just fast. He looked stronger than he ever has.

Fully recovered

He is also confident that he has shaken off the injury that threatened to end his career, displaying the sort of form that he was in before he was sidelined.

Without the depth the country had 10 years ago, we will be relying largely on Van Niekerk and Akani Simbine to secure South Africa some medals at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest later this season, so it was good to see both of them performing well at the SA Championships.

Van Niekerk in particular looks ready to chase gold at the global showpiece, and he’s already talking about that being the next major goal on his comeback trail.

Based on his result on Saturday, it would be unwise to bet against him, and his suggestion for a headline was entirely fitting because it’s very true.

We missed you Wayde.