World Athletics celebrates Wayde van Niekerk’s win and return to championship style

It’s not just South Africans who’ve been ecstatic to see athlete Wayde van Niekerk’s return to championship style – after he blitzed to the 400m men’s title last weekend in a world-leading 44.17 seconds, his fastest time in almost six years.

This week the South African legend made worldwide headlines, and World Athletics posted a collage of Wayde photos, tweeting: “World record-holder @WaydeDreamer is back in business and ready for more fireworks on the track ?Here’s a Wednesday Wallpaper to celebrate his 44.17 400m world lead at the South African Championships ?”

Spectators at the SA Track and Field Championships in Potchefstroom last weekend said Van Niekerk’s performance was “electrifying”, bringing the crowd to its feet. “It was a great run,” Van Niekerk acknowledged afterwards.

Before the race, he admitted that he has this image that makes people doubt his ability to deliver, but that “I’ve proven my own fears and doubts wrong many times before so I guess it’s part of who I am” and “I’ve always proved people wrong”. He said he was excited and had been putting in the hard work.

“I’m doing what needs to be done to get back on the track so that’s what I need to do – focus on what Wayde can do. It’s always nice to be able to showcase your best performance at the Olympic Games so I’ve got two of them that I can work towards and that’s kind of where my mind is set at at this moment,” he said.

SuperSport said Wayde was back doing “what he does best”.

He has had a rough few years, side-lined by a knee injury he sustained in 2017 during a celebrity touch rugby match, so fans in SA and around the world have been delighted to see him return to form.

Wayde himself revealed at the end of last season that he had deliberately allowed fans “to see me fail and shared every emotion I could to be a sign of hope that when you’re down you don’t have to stay down!!! Always believe in yourself, that’s the first person that should matter.”

He suggested then: “Let’s get some recovery and make the next season even better.”

And what a way to have begun the 2023 season – “the king” (as many headlines roared) is back in the swing of things, proving why he’s called the GOAT (greatest of all time)…

WATCH Wayde van Niekerk in men’s 400m at the SA Championships

https://twitter.com/Track_Gazette/status/1642160729213095938

https://twitter.com/Track_Gazette/status/1642154270383374341

World record-holder @WaydeDreamer is back in business and ready for more fireworks on the track 😤

Here's a Wednesday Wallpaper to celebrate his 44.17 400m world lead at the South African Championships 🙌 pic.twitter.com/hOySPqOb2X

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) April 5, 2023