3. Wayde Van Niekerk
South Africa’s flag bearer in Rio shocked the world in 2015 when he raced to a fast time of 43.48s enroute his victory at the World Championships in Beijing, which is the fourth fastest 400m time in history, becoming the first African to achieve this feat.
(Photo Credit: Making of Champions/PaV Media)
Not done with his record breaking form from 2015, Niekerk started the 2016 season on a ground breaking note once again. At the South African Student Championships, he 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.
At the African Championships in Durban, the 24-year old won the 200m and also helped his country to 4x100m GOLD. He’s currently unbeaten this year, which puts him as the favourite once again for the 400m Olympic GOLD.
However the 2014 African 400m Silver medallist will have his hands full against defending Olympic Champion, Kirani James who also has an unbeaten 2016 run, and multiple Olympic medallist, LaShawn Merritt of USA.
