Wayde van Niekerk

Wayde van Niekerk is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 & 400 metres.  He is currently the World and Olympic record holder for the 400 metres.

Van Niekerk 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. At the 2015 World Championships, he won the gold medal in the 400 meters. He defended his title two years later, in London, where he also won the silver medal in the 200 meters race.

In the 2016 Olympic Games men’s 400m, Van Niekerk won the gold medal with a world record time of 43.03 seconds (reaction time 0.181 s) at age 24 years and 30 days, beating the time of 43.18 seconds set by  Michael Johnson during the  1999 World Championships in Athletics, held in Seville, Spain.

In 2000, Van Niekerk became the only sprinter in history to have run sub-10, sub-20, sub-31 and sub-44 performances at 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m respectively.