Wayde van Niekerk survives semifinal scare as 400m favourite exits

Wayde van Niekerk’s dream comeback nearly crashed on the home straight of the Budapest stadium on a dramatic night of 400m semifinals of the World Athletics Championships on Tuesday, but fortune favoured him as he progressed to the final.

With only the first two in each of the three semifinals guaranteed spots in Thursday’s final, the 31-year-old ended up advancing as a fastest loser, becoming SA’s first finalist of the showpiece so far.

But only after a big-name casualty in the last semifinal.

Pre-competition favourite Steve Gardiner of the Bahamas — who replaced Van Niekerk as world and Olympic champion — pulled up injured in his race.

After walking off the track in despair, Van Niekerk suddenly had a chance of making the podium if he can refill his gas tank in the next two days. 

Also in the mix is long-time rival Kirani James of Grenada, also a former world and Olympic champion, who finished second in his heat behind Briton Matthew Hudson-Smith, the bronze medallist from last year who set a 44.26 sec European record.

Van Niekerk, who has been fighting his way back since injuring his right knee in late 2017, failed to find an extra gear in the sprint for the line after coming off the bend in third place in the first semifinal.

Antonio Watson of Jamaica won in a 44:13 personal best, the fastest time of the night.

Second in 44:26 was American Vernon Norwood, who had not beaten Van Niekerk in eight previous races.

Van Niekerk crossed the line in 44:65, slower than his 44:57 effort in the heats on Sunday.

Running in lane eight, from where he set his 43:03 world record at the 2016 Rio Olympics, it proved again to be lucky for him. 

He has been in great nick this season, but the only question hanging over him is his championship fitness: how will he perform in the final 100m of the final?

His championship fitness was lacking at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he was eliminated in the semifinals, and again at the World Championships in Eugene last year, where he ended fifth, lacking the fuel to fire his turbo booster.

And he didn’t look convincing in Budapest on Tuesday, but he gets a chance to ride again.

Even so Van Niekerk is the best chance to end SA’s major medal drought which already stands at an unprecedented three meets, from Doha 2019 to Tokyo and then to Eugene.

Before then the nation had never gone longer than two meets without a podium finish.

Marioné Fourie progressed beyond the 100m hurdles heats, finishing joint third in her race.

She got off to a good start and held her form to finish behind world No 1 Nia Ali of the US and Poland’s European champion Pia Skrzyszowska.

The SA champion clocked 12:71, the second-best time of her career, to finish with the same time as Hungarian Luca Kozak, runner-up at the European championships last year.

Ali crossed the line in 12:55 and Skrzyszowska in 12:65.

But Taylon Bieldt, who lowered the SA 100m hurdles record to 12:76 in June before Fourie knocked it down to 12:55 a month later, was unable to hit her straps in a race in which American Kendra Harrison took the world lead with a 12:24 effort.