Van Niekerk in historic sprint treble
Athlete first to break marks in 100m, 200m, 400m
SOUTH African Wayde van Niekerk on Saturday became the first runner in the history of world athletics to break 10 seconds for 100 metres, 20 seconds for 200m and 44 seconds for 400m.
The 23-year-old world 400m champion had previously broken the marks on the two longer distances before running 9.98sec over 100m in the Free State Provincial Track and Field Championships in Bloemfontein.
Van Niekerk was helped by a legal 1.5m/sec tailwind and the 1 300m altitude at the track.
Before that, his 100m personal best was 10.45sec, although that was back in 2011.
His 200m personal best is 19.94, while he ran 43.48 in winning the world title in Beijing last year.
He will, however, be running only the 400m at the Rio Olympics later this year.
“Wow!!! Truly grateful and humbled by the opportunity and talents the Lord has blessed me with,” Van Niekerk wrote alongside a video on his Instagram account.
“Finally reaching my childhood dream of sub 10. Truly so blessed. Thank you to everyone supporting me with my career.
“And all that’s contributed to where I am today!!!”
He became the fourth South African to dip under 10 seconds in the 100m sprint, but missed Akani Simbine’s national record set last Tuesday at the first leg of the ASA Night Series at Pilditch Stadium by 0.02sec.
In other provincial championships at the weekend, long jumper Luvo Manyonga was in superb form in Pretoria, winning the Gauteng North title in his specialist event with a best effort of 8.30m.
In Potchefstroom, two-lap specialist Caster Semenya also stuck up her hand at the North West Championships.
Chopping another chunk off her 400m personal best after setting a career record of 52.21 a week earlier, she hit 51.47 seconds to qualify for the one-lap event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
With the provincial championships completed, athletes will now focus on the three remaining legs in the ASA Night Series, as well as the National Championships in their various age groups, as the domestic season reaches full swing.
The Nite Series stops over in Port Elizabeth on April 19.
“These performances, among others, indicate that a great year lies ahead for the sport in South Africa,” ASA president Aleck Skhosana said yesterday.
“Wayde is a special athlete and we wish him an injury-free season leading to Rio. We hope to see our sprinters soon smashing the 9.90 seconds barrier.”
Meanwhile, mother-of-three Jenna Challenor yesterday ran herself into Olympic contention as she cut more than four minutes off her personal best time in Japan.
Challenor finished 32nd in 2hr 37min 9sec in a fast Nagoya women’s marathon where nine of the top 20 achieved personal bests. Bahrain’s Eunice Kirwa won in 2:22.40.
Challenor’s time places her second on the SA rankings of women bidding to make the team for the 2016 Rio Games in August.
