Zakithi Nene and Wayde van Niekerk will play key roles for the SA squad in the four-lap relay in Tokyo.
With the world record holder and the world’s fastest one-lap runner in their ranks, the South African team are confident of stepping on the podium in the men’s 4x400m relay at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo starting this weekend.
The national team, featuring Zakithi Nene, Gardeo Isaacs, world junior champion Udeme Okon and 18-year-old phenom Leendert Koekemoer, won gold at the World Athletics Relays championship held in Guangzhou in May.
And though he did not turn out in that quartet, Wayde van Niekerk said he was eager to give the squad an extra boost in an attempt to earn his first World Championships medal in the 4x400m relay in the Japanese capital.
Van Niekerk, who set the 400m world record of 43.03 at the 2016 Rio Olympics, clocked 20.07 seconds over 200m to finish second at the World Athletics Continental Tour meeting in Budapest last month – his quickest half-lap time since he earned the 200m silver medal at the World Championships in 2017.
“As a team, we have a big desire to get ourselves amongst the medals in the 4x400m, and that’s really been something I wanted to be a part of for a very long time now,” Van Niekerk said on Monday, after departing from OR Tambo International.
“My health is looking good and the body has been responding well.”
Good form over 200m
In the 200m event, there were 24 men in the world faster than him this year, including national champion Sinesipho Dambile who has clocked 20.01.
And while Van Niekerk said he would give it his best to prove he could still keep up with some of the quickest men on the globe, he was well outside his personal best of 19.84 set more than eight years ago, and he conceded that it was going to be a real challenge.
“I’m obviously not close to medal contention quite yet. I have to be realistic,” he said.
“At the same time we’re taking it step by step – heats, semis and final – and I’m trying to use this competition to get some good times.”
Nene to anchor team
Nene, meanwhile, clocked the fastest 400m time in the world this season when he ran 43.76 in Nairobi in May.
And though he picked up a grade two hamstring tear during a warm-up session four weeks ago, and had not raced since, Nene felt he was ready to play a key role again, as he did on the anchor leg in Guangzhou earlier this year.
“I’m all good. Recovery has been going well… and I’m in the best possible shape now going into worlds,” Nene said.
The World Athletics Championships starts in Tokyo on Saturday.
