Wayde Van Niekerk (RSA) competes on Men’s 400 m Semi-Final during the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 at National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary Wayde van Niekerk might be competing in his last-ever individual race at the Olympics in the men’s 200m semi-final on Wednesday evening. Picture: Stephane Kempinaire / KMSP via AFP
In what might be the last time he appears in an individual race for Team SA at the Olympics, Wayde van Niekerk will have high hopes heading into the men’s 200m semi-final on Wednesday evening.
The 200m semi-finals start at 8.02pm, with Shaun Maswanganyi also vying for a place in the final of the Paris Olympics.
Van Niekerk was not particularly impressive in his qualifying 200m heat. The 32-year-old placed third behind Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia and Eseosa Fostine Desalu of Italy in a time of 20.42 seconds.
He did not appear to have too much in reserve, and whether he will be able to go faster in his second race, which he will almost certainly need to to progress, remains to be seen.
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The Kenyan wins his heat in the Men's 800m 👟![CDATA[]]>🎽
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Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on how you look at it, Van Niekerk withdrew from the men’s 400m to focus on the 200m at the Paris Olympics.
This season, Van Niekerk has a best time of 20.29 in the 200m, while his personal best remains the 19.84 he ran in 2017 before his serious knee injury.
For comparison, at the Tokyo Olympics Noah Lyles earned bronze in the men’s 200m in a time of 19.74.
It means, Van Niekerk would likely have to run a personal best just to earn the bottom podium position - a far cry from the top spot he stood on in 2016 in the 400m with a world record under his belt for good measure.
However, if Van Niekerk is unable to progress he still has the relays on the horizon. He will hope to feature prominently in the sprint relays for South Africa, if he is to pick up another Olympic medal.
For the schedule of the SA athletes in action on Wednesday, click here.