WAYDE VAN NIEKERK

200 m: 21.15 sec, 2nd, South Africa Junior Championships, 2010
200 m: 21.02 sec, 4th, World Junior Championships, Canada, 2010
100 m: 10.48 sec, 1st, South African Junior Championships, 2011
200 m: 20.67 sec, 1st, South African Junior Championships, 2011
200 m: 20.57 sec, 1st, South African Championships, 2011
200 m: 21.19, 4th, African Junior Championships, Gaborone, 2011
400 m: 45.83 sec, 1st, South African U23 Championships, 2013
400 m: 45.99 sec, 1st, South African Championships, 2013
400 m: 46.39 sec, 3rd SF, Universiade, Kazan, 2013
400 m: 46.37 sec, 5th ht, IAAF World Championships, Moscow, 2013
400 m: 44.92 sec, 1st, South African Championships, 2014
400 m: 44.68 sec, 2nd, Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, 2014
400 m: 45.00 sec, 2nd, African Championships, Marrakech, 2014
400 m: 45.27 sec, 4th, Continental Cup, Marrakech, 2014
4 x 400 m: 3:00.03 sec, 1st, Continental Cup, Marrakech, 2014
400 m: 44.91 sec, 1st, South African Championships, 2015
400 m: 43.48 sec, 1st, IAAF World Championships, Beijing, 2015

“Sport is my personal talent that I have been given by God. It is such a blessing knowing that I can put a mark out there in the world and try to inspire others to reach their dream”

Though his career took a slight knock at the end of the 2017 campaign when he picked up a serious knee injury while playing a touch rugby game for charity during the off-season, Van Niekerk has kept his head up and remains positive about his recovery.
Working with some of the best medical professionals in their field, Van Niekerk's team has been pleased with his rehabilitation, and he is expected to make an explosive return to the track when one of South Africa's brightest stars is ready to shine once again.

Wayde Van Niekerk lives in Bloemfontein, South Africa and he first came to prominence in 2010 when he managed to qualify for the 200m at the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada.

The 4th place in Canada was the beginning of something special, but in 2011 after he clocked 20.57 taking his first South African senior title, he started suffering an injury that compromised his progress for more than two years.

Together with the coach Anna Botha they started working on a new program building the bases that in 2013 and 2014 paid them back with a personal best 45.09 over 400m in Ostrava in June 2013 and a first national title over his own specialist distance together with an appearance in Moscow World Championships.

“I firmly believe that this has been a talent placed to me and I work hard everyday…I just want to do it because this is my way of saying thanks to the Lord”

In 2014 Wayde Van Niekerk made his mark on the world stage with the South African record of 44.38 at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in New York, one of the three occasions on which he broke the 45 seconds barrier during the year.

Silver were the two medals he got, first at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014 and then at the African Championships in Marrakesh.

“My motto is It has to be done! The moment is not going to wait for me and I need to be in the moment so it has to be done, it is the only way I think of things”.

2015 has been the year of the victories over 400m: New York, London and Paris with a short-lived African Record 43.96 clocked in Paris, as well as his first ever sub 20 sec 200m in Luzern, which made him become one of the four men in history to break both 44sec and 20sec.

In Beijing at the IAAF World Championships 2015 he won the gold medal clocking 43.38 sec, the 4th fastest time in the history of 400m.

“This is why I love doing what I am doing, I have fallen in love with the track because of speed; as a young kid I have always thought of being the fastest in the world and wanted to break barriers and times as a young boy, so when it comes to speed I want to be as fast as I can be humanly possible”.