The men ’ s 400m final , with Wayde van Niekerk ( 542 ) leading World Junior Champ Lythe Pillay ( 637 )
TRACK & FIELD
Awesome Akani
Akani Simbine claims a fifth national 100m title , having run sub-10 to qualify for the World Champs in the qualifying rounds .
Wayde is back ! That was the clear message emanating from the SA Champs held in Potchefstroom from 30 March to 1 April . Completing a comeback five years in the making , Wayde van Niekerk blitzed to his fastest time for 400m since before that fateful touch-rugby incident in 2017 to claim the national title in a world-leading 44.17 seconds – the World Record-holder announcing he ’ s well and truly back in contention at international level .
It ’ s been a tough journey for the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World Champion , not only battling his body but the doubts in his own mind . “ My body is perfect , my body feels strong ,” he said . “ I am handling the rounds well – it ’ s just the holistic package that I ’ m working on , and hopefully it will all come together .
“ Honestly , I just want to survive right now . I just want to overcome straining the body physically and mentally , pushing barriers and challenging myself . Today I can say I crossed the line healthy . I was far from where I wanted to be mentally , but I overcame that and ran a good time . It was tough … you ’ ve seen the rollercoaster since my injury , and with that comes a lot of mental battles and challenges , questions and doubts and just trying to fight through it … But I ’ m grateful to put down a time that gives me hope .”
Also impressing in the 400m was World Junior Champion Lythe Pillay , who ran the first sub-45- second time of his career , clocking 44.94 in the semi-final and then going even quicker for his silver medal behind Van Niekerk , crossing the line in 44.80 . Van Niekerk credited the youngster for spurring him on to such a speedy time : “ That ’ s why I ran what I ran today . I wouldn ’ t have run a race like that if I thought the competition was easy ,” he said .
Chasing Qualifiers
The qualifying time for the men ’ s 400m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest later this year is 45 seconds , meaning both Van Niekerk and Pillay dipped under that mark twice in one day . There were two other World Champs qualifying times achieved in Potch , one from Akani Simbine in the men ’ s 100m
Wayde ’ s World
Continuing his comeback from his 2017 injury , Wayde van Niekerk won the men ’ s 400m title with a worldleading 44.17 time .
and the other by Zeney van der Walt in the women ’ s 400m hurdles .
Simbine powered to a speedy 9.98 seconds in the 100m heats and then bettered that with a 9.92 in the semi-finals – both World Athletics Championships qualifying times , as they met the qualifying mark of 10 seconds on the dot . He then ran 10.14 in the final for a fifth national 100m title . “ I just had a little technical error in the beginning , but other than that it was a good race . It ’ s just unfortunate it ’ s a bit chilly right now , and the wind was against us , but the legs are still good . I can go another round ,” joked the two-time Olympic finalist afterwards .
“ I ’ m just happy to be running well and feeling good and having everything around me be in a good space . My confidence has been up since I started training . I had to just get my head right , and I think that ’ s one big play right now … Last year a lot of things were happening , but this year my confidence is back up and I ’ ve got to a point where I don ’ t have to prove anything to anyone . I know I am fast , I know I ’ m one of the best sprinters in the world , so I just have to go out there , train hard , focus on training , do better every time on the track and get there and perform .”
Akani Simbine ( 645 ) celebrates as he beats Benjamin Richardson in the men ’ s 100m final
Images : Ruben Gouws , Cecilia van Bers
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