Wayde van Niekerk once again shone bright like a diamond when he had to fight for victory in the 400m at the Wanda Diamond League Athletics Meeting in London on Sunday.
Photo Finish Pic: Diamond League
The world 400m record-holder of 43.03 seconds set at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 once again showed why he is on course for next month’s World Championships in Budapest.
A week ago at the Diamond League Meeting in Silesia, Poland, the South African ran his fastest time in seven years since recovering from a career threatening knee injury in 2017 by winning comfortably in a blistering 44.08.
The 31-year-old blitzed the one-lapper in the Olympic Stadium in 44.36 in London and managed to thwart off strong challenges from the American duo of Bryce Deadman (44.40) and Vernon Norwood (44.46) who finished second and third respectively.
Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith (44.72) was fourth, with Botswana’s Leungo Scotch (44.98) also dipping under 45 seconds taking fifth place.
This was Van Niekerk’s third consecutive Diamond League victory after also winning in Oslo.
He admitted afterwards that he had to work very hard to emerge victorious in London.
“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,” he said after his photo-finish victory.
Van Niekerk can take a lot of confidence from his performance in London.
He would like to continue with his winning momentum and now has his sights sets on the World Champs taking place in the Hungarian capital of Budapest from 19 to 27 August.
| 1 | 5 | RSA |
van NIEKERK Wayde
|
44.36 |
| 2 | 4 | USA |
DEADMON Bryce
|
44.40 |
| 3 | 3 | USA |
NORWOOD Vernon
|
44.46 |
| 4 | 6 | GBR |
HUDSON-SMITH Matthew
|
44.72
SB
|
| 5 | 2 | BOT |
SCOTCH Leungo
|
44.98 |
| 6 | 7 | USA |
WILLIE Ryan
|
45.39 |
| 7 | 8 | NED |
BONEVACIA Liemarvin
|
45.51 |
| 8 | 1 | GBR |
HAYDOCK-WILSON Alex
|
45.59 |
