Wayde favourite in Rome meet

DECORATED sprinter Wayde van Niekerk will launch his international season at the Rome Diamond League tomorrow.

The 400m final at Stadio Olympico will also mark the third time that the 23-year-old will start in his specialist event this season.

He has only competed in the one-lap race in the last two months, winning both the SA Championships and the SA Open Championships.

Van Niekerk has mainly been focusing on the shorter sprints over the past few months to build momentum ahead of the African Championships in Durban later this month – and ultimately the Olympic Games in August.

The Bloemfontein-based sprinter is the favourite to win in the Italian capital tomorrow.

He can expect his stiffest challenge to come from African champion Isaac Makwala of Botswana in a relatively easy field. The race will also be preparation for Van Niekerk’s looming clash with another fierce rival, LaShawn Merritt of the US, in a 300m race at the inaugural Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica on June 11.

Van Niekerk has been invited to the Caribbean with SA 100m record holder Akani Simbine, who is also competing in the short dash in Rome tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Caster Semenya will face Kenyan rival Eunice Sum in the 800m final at the Rome meeting. She has already claimed two Diamond League wins – in Qatar on May 6 and Morocco on May 22 – in the race for the R630 000 grand prize at the end of the series.

Also invited to the Rome meeting are star jumpers Luvo Manyonga and Ruswahl Samaai, Sunette Viljone (javelin) and Wenda Theron (400m hurdles).