2. Isaac Makwala
Turning 31 next month, Isaac Makwala, who made his World Championships bow ten years ago in Osaka, Japan, looks set to finally win a medal at this prestigious competition.
Having won an array of African laurels, Makwala has not really had it so good outside the continent, but London seems to present him the best opportunity to win that elusive World Champs medal.
The Botswana athlete typifies the adage of ‘aging like fine wine’, and interestingly, this year he ran his best time ever in the 200m, after turning 30! It goes without saying that just a select few can successfully pull such off.
This year, Makwala goes into the World Championships ranked No. 3 in the world with a Season’s Best (SB) of 43.84s in the 400m. In fact, he has the next best time of 43.92s, holding two of the top five times in the world.
He is the World Leader in the 200m with a Personal Best (PB) of 19.77s, making him an instant contender for a medal in this event, especially as the likes of Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin and now Andre De Grasse, are not competing in the event.
The 400m hasn’t looked this promising for him, having finished 5th in 2015 where he ran two exerting races from Lane 8 in the prelims and semis, trying to keep others at bay and winning both. It wasn’t surprising that he was a spent force before the final.
With Kirani James who won Silver then not coming to the Worlds, it is one less person to worry about, as he moves up the chain of challengers.
One needs to see how hard he made Wayde Van Niekerk work when they met at the Monaco Diamond League. to know that he is a man in form. As they approached the last bend, he surged past the World Record (WR) holder who dug deep and accelerated as they both clocked under 44s. Maybe that race wouldn’t have been as fast if Makwala hadn’t made the move.
Initially, many felt that Makwala’s sub 44s races were suspicious as they came at a particular meet in La Chaux-de-Fonds, where he set a then African Record (AR) of 43.74s. This year, he has proven that he has evolved more, running two sub 44s races in Madrid and Monaco respectively.
In fact, Madrid was the place he got himself into more reckoning, instantly becoming a major contender in London when in a space of two hours he ran inside 44s and 20s in both the 400m and 200m respectively, becoming the first man in history to accomplish this feat.
Although six rounds of races in both the 200m and 400m will have its toll on Makwala, he should be able to at least land a medal in one of the events.
