Wayde: My biggest challenge is to remember that I’m a competitor
HE might be the 400m Olympic champion and world record-holder, but that doesn’t mean nerves can’t get the better of Wayde van Niekerk.
In fact, the 28-year-old says that neutralising the jitters before a race is one of the main battles he is fighting at the moment as he plots his path to Olympic glory once more in Tokyo.
Van Niekerk won his third 200m national title at the Tuks Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday, bringing the heat in the second part of the race to finish in 20.38 seconds on a cool night in the South African capital.
But the end result belied the nerves he felt beforehand.
In a postrace interview with good friend and 100m SA champion Akani
Simbine on BackTrack Sports’ Facebook live feed Van Niekerk said getting into his stride again after a few injury-affected seasons has not been straight-forward.
“I just want to get this off my chest – Akani Simbine is busy interviewing me right now,” Van Niekerk said. “Races are quite intense, so I was really just trying to control my nerves and start getting used to the fact that I’m competing.
“It’s a massive opportunity to break through that mental barrier that I had – competing against the likes of yourself (Simbine), to just get back into racing again and calm those nerves down.
“I think that is really my biggest challenge at this moment – it’s just to get that old mentality calm again, and start remembering that I’m a competitor, and being able to make sure that when I get to the track, I can start executing my races the way I actually should.
“Today was good. It was quite cold tonight, so the first 100, I was just feeling where I am physically, and as I came out of the bend, I felt comfortable ... I felt strong enough to finish the race.
“I wasn’t really trying to push for anything, or any times or anything – just to execute the race and get the win.”
His next step is to travel to the United States to link up with new coach Lance Brauman in Florida.
Van Niekerk has yet to run a 400m race this year, on his coach’s orders, and will look to find his form in the one-lap event during the European season, which kicks off with the Diamond League opener in Gateshead, England on 23 May.