Van Niekerk halfway to double with 400m gold
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Wayde van Niekerk retained his world 400 meters title in dominant fashion on Tuesday as he stormed to victory in 43.98 seconds but there was almost as much interest in the empty lane alongside him where Botswana’s Isaac Makwala should have been.
South African Van Niekerk, the Olympic and defending champion and world record holder, ran a controlled race and was even able to ease down over the final strides as he secured the first half of what he hopes will be a 400/200m double.
Steven Gardiner, 21, of the Bahamas was a clear second in 44.41 and 20-year-old world junior champion Abdalelah Haroun of Qatar blasted through at the end to snatch bronze in 44.48.
Makwala, third-fastest in the year this season, was scratched from the race earlier on Tuesday having also been withdrawn from Monday’s 200m heats after vomiting before he got on to the track.
He insisted he wanted to run but IAAF officials ruled him out for public health reasons and refused him entry to the stadium amid a swathe of nanovirus and gastroenteritis cases that have affected about
Makwala was, however, cleared to run in the men’s 200 meters on Wednesday and celebrated his reprieve by qualifying for the semifinals. The IAAF said the quarantine period had ended and Makwala could run in the semifinals in the evening - provided he first achieved the qualifying time of 20.53 seconds in an individual time trial before the main session.
Although he was forced to run in much worse conditions than the competitors had in the first round two days earlier with the rain teeming down in the London Stadium for much of Wednesday, Makwala sped round the wet track on his own in 20.20 seconds.
It meant he had qualified comfortably for the semifinals which were held after press time on Wednesday. The 200m final will be held on Thursday.
Cheered by spectators who were still coming into the stadium for the evening session, Makwala prayed before the start and, after glancing at the clock at the end of the race, went into a series of celebratory press-ups on the track.
“Following a medical examination which has declared him fit to compete, we have agreed under our existing rules that assuming he makes the qualification time, he will run in the 200m semifinal round this evening,” the IAAF said in a statement The IAAF said it made the decision following a written request from Botswana’s athletics federation. It said none of the athletes who had already qualified would be expelled to make way for him.
In Makwala’s absence, Van Nierkerk looked an even shorter-odds favorite on Tuesday and duly delivered, barely seeming out of breath when he crossed the line with his thoughts already turning to the 200m.
“I’ve got a good team to help me recover and it’s back to work tomorrow,” he said.
Van Niekerk had huge sympathy for Makwala.
“It was definitely a heartbreaking moment,” he said. “I saw him just before the 200 heat and the only thing I could think of was just wrapping my arms around him and telling him he should get well soon. As much as we want to win gold medals, we also want to go out there and have best guys on the track with us. It’s such a massive pity. He’s a strong athlete, I’ve seen him break through a lot of challenges. So I have a lot of sympathy for him.”
“I wish I could give him my medal to be honest, but this is sport. We need to go out there and fight for our opportunities and it could’ve happened to any one of us. We all have tough times, we just need to get up and fight harder,” he added. (Reuters)