Wayde van Niekerk broke a second world best belonging to legendary Michael Johnson on Wednesday night‚ winning the 300m at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava. Van Niekerk‚ who obliterated Johnson’s 400m world record with his 43.03sec blitz at the Rio Olympics in 2016, shaved four-hundredths of a second off Johnson’s mark as he stopped the clock in 30.81. Officially‚ it’s not a record because the 300m marks are not ratified‚ but it goes down as a world best. Usain Bolt’s 30.97 meet record was a distant memory by the time Van Niekerk cantered over the line looking as if he still had plenty of gas in the tank as he led six of the seven competitors behind him to personal bests. Botswana’s Isaac Makwala was second in 31.44 while Van Niekerk’s young compatriot‚ matric pupil Clarence Munyai‚ was third in 31.61‚ a world junior best that smashed the 32.08 by Steve Lewis in 1988. Van Niekerk is widely being tipped to take the mantle as world’s best sprinter when Bolt retires after the world cha...
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