Wayde set for a blast in Bloem
Wearing No 1 as his competition number‚ Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk will spring into action in the second leg of the Athletics SA Speed Series in his home town of Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
He is scheduled to receive an award from the world governing body of the International Association of Athletics Federations at the start of the meet in recognition of his world-record run in the Olympic 400m final.
But the big question is whether Van Niekerk will try for history, as he did in Bloemfontein 361 days ago.
On March 12 2016, Van Niekerk clocked 9.98sec to become the only sprinter in history to dip under 10sec in the 100m, under 20sec in the 200m and under 44sec in the 400m on the same day.
Last Saturday, his friend and travelling roommate Akani Simbine opened his 2017 athletics season with a 9.93 effort in the 100m and a 19.95 push in the 200m.
Van Niekerk has said he intends to add the 200m to his international race schedule this year‚ which could affect how he plans his season to ensure he still peaks at the world championships in London.
Wearing the No 2 number on the night is Olympic long-jump silver medallist Luvo Manyonga‚ who started last year with two early world-leading jumps‚ his season opener of 8.20m quickly followed by a personal best of 8.30m.
He improved his best twice more that season‚ going 8.37m at the Olympics and then 8.48m — the world’s second-best jump of the year — in the final Diamond League meet in Brussels.
The world lead at the moment is still a tame 8.19m.
Also on display will be the relay teams Athletics SA is still finalising. Some of the relay athletes complained that they were told they were in the team only on Tuesday.
But Athletics SA wouldn’t be Athletics SA without leaving something to the last minute.