Not even the best sprinters in the US and Jamaica could topple Wayde van Niekerk from his perch atop the 200m world rankings at the weekend. With Usain Bolt abdicating his 200m crown ahead of the world championships in London in August‚ Van Niekerk remains in pole position to lift that mantle with the 19.84sec mark he posted earlier in June. Yohan Blake won the Jamaican title in 19.97sec, while American Ameer Webb was victorious in 20.09sec. "One would have expected some faster times than we saw in both the US and Jamaican trials‚" said former 400m runner Arnaud Malherbe‚ a relay bronze medallist in the 1999 world championships. "There are so far only six men who have run under 20sec [in 2017], with two of them being South African — Wayde van Niekerk and Akani Simbine. "With Noah Lyles and LaShawn Merritt not qualifying for London‚ it seems Wayde’s chances of obtaining a double have improved somewhat." Mathew Quinn‚ a past 100m sprinter and a relay gold medallist in the 2001 world c...
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