Wayde lands in US but not sure about first race
AT long last – Wayde van Niekerk has arrived in the United States to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics.
But when the 400m world recordholder will be back in action is still up in the air at the moment.
Van Niekerk has waited for a number of weeks to receive clearance from the US government to travel to Florida, where he has linked up with new coach Lance Brauman – with 200m world champion Noah Lyles and 400m women’s Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo also part of the group.
The delay allowed the 28-yearold to compete in the South African championships in Pretoria last month, where he clinched the 200m title in 20.38 seconds, but Van Niekerk withdrew from the SA World Relays team that travelled to Poland last week for the same reason.
And it was a good decision, as the 400m Olympic champion was eventually given the go-ahead to fly to America.
Miller-Uibo posted a photo on Instagram on Monday with Van Niekerk to welcome the South African star. “When you get blessed with a world record holder as a training partner! Class is in session, lol! Welcome to the group Wayde,” said the Bahamas athlete, to which he replied: “Exciting times.”
Van Niekerk posted his own photo on yesterday, with the caption: “Been an amazing first day in the US meeting my new team.
“Gradually building!!!”
Van Niekerk’s manager, Peet van Zyl, told Independent Media yesterday that the Covid-19 restrictions were making it difficult to draw up a race schedule for the international season ahead of the Olympics.
Akani Simbine, who guided Team SA to gold in the 4x100m relay in Poland on Sunday night, is also part of Van Zyl’s In-Site Athlete Management stable.
For now, Van Niekerk will “train and train. I will catch up with him and coach Lance next week to discuss race schedules”, said Van Zyl.