What a comeback as Wayde wins

HE was made to work hard for it but in the end Wayde van Niekerk made a victorious comeback to the track in Switzerland lastnight.

The Olympic champion lined up in lane four at the Gala dei Castelli in Bellinzona, donned in pink shoes, blue top and black shorts.

It was the 28-year-old’s first event since Covid-19 stopped all athletics, with Van Niekerk’s return delayed by a positive coronavirus test that appeared to be a ‘false positive’, as he tested negative before and afterwards.

But it meant that he was in isolation at his training base in Gemona, Italy, before he was cleared to train outdoors again.

And the lack of competitive action was evident over the first 200 metres last night as he was slow out of the blocks.

He took his time to build up his speed and was actually outside the top four heading into the home straight.

But the 400m world record holder found another gear and won in 45.58 seconds – a season’s best, although well short of his world mark of 43.03 – with Dutchman Jochem Dobber second in 45.78 and Karol Zalewski of Poland third (46.03).

While the time wasn’t particularly quick, the race was a breakthrough for Van Niekerk to start his preparations for next year’s Tokyo Olympics. He will now return to South Africa to plan the next phase of his programme.

Meanwhile, sprinter Akani Simbine extended his winning streak to three in Europe with another victory in the 100m in Bellinzona.

After a lengthy wait in the blocks, Simbine eventually got going but had to keep his legs pumping all the way to the line to win in 10.02sec, just holding off Italian Filippo Tortu (10.07), with Sri Lanka’s Yupun Mudiyanselage third(10.24).