Van Niekerk circled the track in 43.26 seconds at the World Championships in Tokyo, running the best split of anyone in the 4x400m relay final.
Wayde van Niekerk says he’s done with the 400m sprint.
After emerging as a global superstar in 2015, Van Niekerk went on to win two world tities and an Olympic gold medal, breaking the world record which was held by American icon Michael Johnson.
The South African speedster had the world at his feet. But then his career came to a sudden halt when he snapped his knee during a charity touch rugby match in Durban.
Making a comeback was an achievement in itself, and after three years of rehabilitation he eventually returned to the international circuit, but he wasn’t the same athlete.
That’s not to say he didn’t perform well. Since 2021, he dipped under 45 seconds five years in a row, but Wayde was no longer the Wayde we once knew.
He tried everything, switching coaches and moving from his base in Bloemfontein to the United States in an attempt to resurrect his career. Nothing seemed to work.
So he moved back home with his family, switched coaches again, and went back to basics.
It didn’t seem that had worked either. Until he hit the track in the 4x400m relay at the World Championships in Tokyo last week.
Regaining his best form
Van Niekerk has never been much of a team player, often making himself unavailable for relay races, opting instead to focus on his individual events. And you can’t really blame him.
As the fastest man in the world at one point in the 400m sprint, he probably felt a national 4x400m relay squad without much hope for medals was just diverting his focus.
Now, however, at the back end of his career, he saw some hope. With a strong team of athletes around him in Tokyo, he had a chance to pick up his first World Championships medal in eight years and play a key role in helping the next generation step on the podium. So he jumped on board.
In the men’s 4x400m final, for the first time since 2017, we saw the Wayde we once knew. On the third leg, he circled the track in 43.26 (in pouring rain), running the fastest lap of any athlete in the race.
His last 400m race?
Returning home this week, Van Niekerk said that was likely to be the last 400m of his career, which was not surprising. He has always preferred the 100m and 200m sprints, and before retiring he said he wanted to focus on those events.
But after seeing him show the sort of form we last saw in the 400m sprint nearly a decade ago, it’s clear he still has something to offer over his best distance.
He did say he needed some time to think about it, and as adamant as he seems on the subject, it would be great to see him challenging the global elite again.
I really hope he changes his mind.
