Reigning World Champion in the men’s 400m, Wayde Van Niekerk has continued to demonstrate his versatility in the sprints, winning the 100m/200m at the SA Student Championships hosted by the University of Limpopo on Friday and Saturday, April 29 and 30, 2016.
Two months ago, the 23-year old made history by becoming the first man EVER to run inside 10s, 20s and 44s in the 100m, 200m and 400m respectively after dashing to the 100m title at the Free State Championships with a Personal Best (PB) of 9.98s.
Incidentally, the South African equaled his PB to win the semis of the 100m two days ago, although the excessive tail wind prevented the time from making it into the history books.
Van Niekerk, who is in his final semester at the University of the Free State, outclassed Emile Erasmus to take the title in 10.03s, with the latter coming 2nd in 10.26s, while Thando Roto finished 3rd in 10.30s.
He thereafter raced to victory in the 200m with a time of 20.35s, finishing ahead of Hendrik Maartens (20.71s) and Gideon Trotter (20.90s).
It would have been great to see how he would have fared had he competed in his specialist event, the 400m, which was won by Pieter Conradie (45.86s), with Shaun de Jager (46.40s) and Derrick Mokaleng (46.56s) coming 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Van Niekerk is yet to compete in the 400m this season, and fans will be looking forward to seeing him commence action ahead of the Rio Olympics.
Another standout athlete at the event was London 2012 Silver medallist, Caster Semenya who replicated last month’s incredible feat of winning the treble (400m, 800m and 1500m) at the ASA SA Senior Championships, taking all three titles again in the course of the two-day championship.
The North-West University undergraduate returned a time of 52.52s in the 400m as Ariane Nel (55.69s) and Jeanelle Griesel (56.06s) followed in 2nd and 3rd. The 2009 World Champion then secured titles in her main event, the 800m (2:03.59), and the 1500m (4:31.12).
Semenya will open her international season at the IAAF Diamond League in Doha this Friday.
