Wayde gets green light to travel to the US
AT long last Wayde van Niekerk has been cleared to travel to the United States to begin his journey to the Tokyo Olympics.
The 400 metres world recordholder has been stuck in South Africa in recent weeks while awaiting approval from the American authorities to fly to the US, where he will link up with his new coach Lance Brauman in Florida.
Van Niekerk will join the same training group that contains America’s 200m world champion Noah Lyles and women’s 400m Olympics winner Shaunae MillerUibo, after opting to move on from his ong-time coach ‘Tannie’ Ans Botha in Bloemfontein.
The 28-year-old South African is looking for a fresh start in the US, hoping that it will inspire him not only to a second Olympic gold medal, but also a new world record.
His current mark of 43.03 seconds at the Rio Olympics in 2016 broke the long-standing time of 43.18sec held by American Michael Johnson.
Van Niekerk is determined to become the first athlete to go under 43 seconds in the one-lap sprint, which is part of the reason why he will be based in Florida before the Olympics.
“Wayde’s travel documents have been approved. Now we are waiting for the passports, so we hope to have it some time this coming week,” his manager Peet van Zyl told Independent Media yesterday.
If his passport does arrive this week, Van Niekerk will then have to miss out on the South African track and field championships, which begin on Thursday at the TUKS Stadium in Pretoria.
The 400m heats are scheduled for Thursday afternoon, and would’ve been Van Niekerk’s first one-lap race of 2021.
He has said in recent weeks that his new coach Brauman “doesn’t believe I’m where I need to be” for the 400m, which is why he has been competing in the 200m, where his best time was a sparkling 20.10 seconds.
Van Niekerk has spoken about getting out of the blocks quicker as well, which is all part of putting the complete race together to take aim at his own 400m world record.
Once he gets to Florida, he will get ready for the international season, with the first Diamond League meeting set for Rabat, Morocco, on May 23.