Welcome back, King Wayde
WHILE CASTER SEMENYA, the queen of South African athletics, is fighting for her right to run, king Wayde van Niekerk made his triumphant return over the weekend after a year-and-ahalf injury-enforced absence.
Semenya will have to wait until the end of March to learn her fate after her challenge to the IAAF’s female eligibility regulations before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) concluded last Friday.
Van Niekerk’s battle may have been of a different nature but his return to the track signalled the end of one of the most difficult periods in his career.
The world 400m record holder made a winning comeback racing to victory in the one-lap event at the Free State Championships in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
His winning time of 47.28 seconds may not have burned up the track the way he did before he injured his knee in a tag rugby match, but it is a good start considering it was his first official race since August 10, 2017.
Van Niekerk beat former Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles champion and training partner Cornel Fredericks, who finished second in 47.50.
The 26-year-old made his return last Monday at a University of Free State hostel meeting where he won both the 400m and 800m.
His battle may not be completely behind him as he looks to rekindle the form and the speed that saw him rise to the pinnacle of his sport.
Last week’s racing brought an end to a frustrating period away from the track after going under the knife in November 2017 followed by intense rehabilitation.
Van Niekerk last competed at the 2017 World Championships in London where he won double medals including back-to-back 400m titles.
His absence saw him missing out on the 2018 Commonwealth Games while Clarence Munyai usurped him of his South African 200m record during this time.
Van Niekerk will be looking to get back to his best ahead of this year’s World Championships in Doha where he will be looking to win his third consecutive 400m title.
Speaking at last week’s Laureus World Sports Awards, four-time Olympic sprint medallist Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago said Van Niekerk had to rediscover his rhythm which he may have lost due to a lack of racing.
“I think he will be fine, and I feel what is going to hurt him the most is the time off,” Boldon said.
“There is a rhythm to a season and when you see athletes lose that season sometimes their rhythm can suffer.
“And the 400m, more than any sprint, is a rhythm race so he is not been in 43-rhythm since 2017 which is the real issue.”
Boldon has made a habit of making accurate predictions about Van Niekerk, first tipping the South African for the 400m title ahead of the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
“Wayde has made me very smart because the next year, live on air on NBC, we had somebody ask me about the 400m and I said it would take a world record to win the race.
“And Michael Johnson, who of course owned the world record said “Nah”, so it was a good day for me.”
Boldon said Van Niekerk will also have to contend with the new era of rising stars, including American sensation Michael Norman, who clocked a world-leading time of 43.61 (the 11th fastest 400m ever) last year.
“The issue he has is a young man called Michael Norman from the United States…that to me is the bigger issue for Wayde but it is great because as fans we will get to see two of the best ever,” Boldon said.