South African sprinting sensation Wayde van Niekerk has made sprinting history by becoming the first man in history to run the 100m in under 10 seconds‚ the 200m in under 20 seconds and the 400m in under 44 seconds‚ the International Association of Athletics Federations has confirmed on its website.
On Saturday‚ Van Niekerk clocked 9.98 seconds in Bloemfontein to qualify for the 100m sprint at the Olympics.
“The 23-year-old hasn’t competed in a 100m race since his junior days‚ so his previous PB of 10.45 – also set in Bloemfontein back in 2011 – was due for serious revision. But he surprised almost everyone‚ himself included‚ with his performance on Saturday.
“After clocking a PB of 10.12 into a –1.9m/s headwind in the heats‚ the breeze changed direction for the final.
“Aided by a 1.5m/s following wind – and with a little bit of assistance from Bloemfontein’s altitude – Van Niekerk won the final in 9.98‚” the IAAF said. Van Niekerk, who normally competes in the 200m and 400m‚ the latter in which he is the reigning world champion and the first athlete in Africa to run it in under 44 seconds‚ holds personal bests of 19.94 seconds and 43.48 seconds for the distances‚ respectively.
He has held South African records for both but currently only holds the record for the 400m event. He was the silver medallist in the 400m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and took bronze in the 4×400 metres relay at the 2013 Summer Universiade.
He also represented South Africa at the 2013 and 2015 Athletics World Championships‚ winning a gold medal in the 400m in last year’s event.
TeamSouthAfrica (@teamsa16) tweeted at 3:28PM on Saturday: “Congrats to 400m specialist @WaydeDreamer who clocked 9.98 in Bloemfontein today to qualify for the 100m sprint at the Olympics #TeamSArise.”