Van Niekerk slugs it out for Diamond League triumph

Wayde van Niekerk showed grit as he fought off a late challenge to win the 400m in the final Diamond League meet ahead of the world championships in Budapest next month.

The owner of the 43.03sec world record might not have shocked the world with his 44.36 winning time, but the way he responded when dragged into the trenches showed this racehorse can thrive in war too.

During his reign at the top of the world from 2015 to 2017 Van Niekerk always enjoyed a comfortable lead going down the home straight, invariably putting daylight between himself and his nearest challenger.

But at the Olympic Stadium in London on Sunday he was subjected to a three-pronged attack coming off the bend. US champion Bryce Deadmon, his countryman Vernon Norwood and Britain’s 2022 world championship bronze medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith all went into hunting mode as they cruised into the home straight on Van Niekerk’s shoulder.

It had been years since 31-year-old Van Niekerk had engaged in hand-to-hand combat, and he responded like a champion street fighter. Hudson-Smith faded slightly, but Deadmon and Norwood attacked hard, pushing at Van Niekerk, trying to get him to break.

The former king, who is looking to regain the 400m crown he last won in the same arena in 2017, held his form to secure victory by four-hundredths of a second over Deadmon. Norwood was third in 44.46 and Hudson-Smith fourth in 44.72.

Van Niekerk, now with 11 Diamond League triumphs, felt he wasn’t in the same shape as when he ruled the one-lap. 

“To an extent I wanted to replicate the result I had here six years ago. Last time I ran here I was so much more in control of the 400m than this year. There’s a bit more of a fight needed from me so I’m glad that I could put down a fight today and show myself that I can fight through difficult days too and get a victory.

“Physically I’m ticking all the right boxes, so hopefully I can just use this for myself as a reference moving forward to just constantly improve and grow. Then, when I get to Budapest I can compete for medals … I know I have the abilities to grow and improve by then.”

Van Niekerk will now retreat to his training camp to fine-tune his preparations for the global showpiece in Hungary from August 19-27.

The 44.08 he clocked in Poland last weekend ranks him fourth on the world list, topped by Olympic champion Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas with the 43.74 he ran last week.

Muzala Samukonga is second on 43.91, followed by Rusheen McDonald of Jamaica on 44.03.

Van Niekerk has beaten Samukonga and McDonald this year already, but he and Gardiner haven’t faced off since Tokyo 2020, where the South African was still on the comeback trail after injuring his right knee in late 2017. But he proved on Sunday that he’s ready for battle.