Van Niekerk looking to go low

AFTER RACING to a season’s best at his previous race at the beginning of the month Wayde van Niekerk dropped a hint that he might produce something special at tonight’s Monaco Diamond League meeting.

Considering Van Niekerk posted the third fastest time of his career when he posted a new 43.62 seconds in Lausanne, it would not be a completely outlandish thought that he could come close to his world record of 43.03.

“I will have one more competition before London … there I want to put on a show and aim for a great time,” Van Niekerk said.

On the eve of the Monaco race, Jamaican sprinting legend Usain Bolt paid Van Niekerk the ultimate compliment saying he regretted not racing the South African as he draws the curtain on his career.

“I think that’s one of the most disappointing things in my career now, that he came along at this late stage, that I didn’t get to compete against him because I think he’s one of the best, hands down, right now,” Bolt said.

With Bolt opting out of racing the 200m at the global showpiece, Van Niekerk is seen as one of the strong contenders to add the half-lap sprint gold to his 400m title from two years ago.

Van Niekerk will be racing the 200400m double in London and will be looking to follow in Michael Johnson’s footsteps to claim both titles at the same championships.

Meanwhile, Olympic 800m gold medallist Caster Semenya will be looking to make a strong statement in her final race ahead of the championships.

Semenya continues to be the dominant force in the two-lap event topping the world rankings with the season’s best of 1:56.61 from Doha in May.

The South African will be looking to extend her winning streak in the 800m race to 18 victories.

She will once again cross swords with her fellow Rio Olympics medallists Margaret Wambui of Kenya and Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba.

South African 100m record-holder Akani Simbine will be lining up against Usain Bolt for a repeat of the Rio Olympic final.

Simbine will be looking to strike a psychological blow against the world record-holder ahead of the world championships.

His coach Werner Prinsloo said Simbine would be looking to get a confidence boost with less than a month to go to the global showpiece.

“The last two weeks have been good, training went well and we are using Monaco as a good build-up to the World Championships and it doesn’t matter who is in the line-up,” Prinsloo said.

South African women’s 400m hurdles ace Wenda Nel will line up in her specialist event while Dominique ScottEfurd will be at the start of the 3 000m.