Earlier this year, Van Niekerk, competing in his first global race of the season, won the men’s 400m race in 44,19 seconds, just 0,08 outside the season’s best he set in his hometown of Bloemfontein at the Athletics SA Open Championships.
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Johnson’s 1996 Olympic record of 43.49‚ set in Atlanta in 1996‚ was always likely to come under threat considering the quality of the field‚ which included 2012 and 2008 Olympic champions Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt respectively.
Since she’s been his coach, van Niekerk’s time has dropped by a whopping four seconds.
While few besides Bolt expected van Niekerk to surpass Johnson’s record on Sunday night, it’s hardly a surprise that he won the race. “That is, if I see something that will work on my athletes, I will try it and implement it”, she told the City Press in 2015.
Usain Bolt’s reaction to Wayde van Niekerk’s gold is priceless! But he was competing for attention with Usain Bolt, who won his unprecedented third 100 title. “When you keep going like that, obviously a record is going to fall”.
Johnson, working for BBC, was commentating on the event and sounded genuinely pleased for Van Niekerk. Johnson said. “It is something I thought I could do but never did”.
“He did great, I’m proud of him”.
Van Niekerk added that he doesn’t even recall having a strategy in place. Johnson’s 43.18, set at the World Championships in Seville in 1999, went unchallenged for a long time – until tonight, Jeremy Wariner’s 43.45 at the 2007 Worlds was the closest anyone came to it.
“I’m just trying to decorate my achievements as an athlete as much as I can and put my right foot forward each time I hit the track”.
“As I got to the finish line I was expecting one of the two to catch me”.
Although well short of his world record, Bolt expressed satisfaction with his performance.
“It didn’t happen. The South African in fact went faster in the second half of the race, slingshotting into the home straight in a blur of limbs”. His coach is his 74-year-old great grandmother Ans Botha. Again, that was a sloppy race but that really was a PB so I am just slowly pulling it all together. “It is something I thought I could do, but never did”, the American said.
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Even when not at his best because of what he called a “really stupid” too-quick turnaround between the 100-meter dash semifinals and the showcase final, Bolt is the most entertaining performer in the track and field universe. “This could be the next star of the sport”.
