What happened to Wayde van Niekerk? All about the 400m world record holder's pursuits after the Rio Olympics

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Jul 14, 2024 05:16 GMT

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Sprinter Wayde van Niekerk was trained by his grandmother. Before the 2016 Rio Olympics, South Africa did not have anything to be proud of in the 400m events except for two medals. However, all changed with van Niekerk's entry.

Running in the outermost lane, van Niekerk sped off like a bullet, shocking the entire world by clocking 43.03 seconds and defeating the defending champion Kirani James by a huge distance. He broke the 17-year-old world record set by Michael Johnson in 1999.

Fast forward to 2024 and the South African is nowhere near his prime. In fact, he is not even participating in the men's 400m event, but focusing on the men's 200m and the relay events.

So, what really went wrong for Wayde van Niekerk?

van Niekerk competing at the World Championships 2017 [Image Source: Getty]

Only a year after the Rio Olympics, Wayde van Niekerk proved his mettle at the 2017 World Championships. While he clocked an impressive 43.98 seconds to win the 400m event, the South African clocked 20.11 seconds to win a silver medal in the 200m event.

However, the decision to participate in a charity rugby match proved wrong for Wayde Van Niekerk.

In October 2017, van Niekerk tore his anterior cruciate ligament [ACL] due to which he had to pull out from several championships in 2018 and 2019. While he managed to make a comeback at the Tokyo Olympics, he couldn't qualify for the finals. He also finished a disappointing fifth and seventh at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, respectively.

A look at Wayde Van Nierkerk's performances in the 2024 Olympic Season

van Niekerk to reset his priorities? [Image Source: Getty]

Since then, Wayde van Niekerk hasn't reached his top level. He has participated only once in the 400m event, at the USATF New York City Grand Prix. While he managed to clock a decent timing of 44.74, it was not enough to make him win the race.

Since then, van Niekerk has been primarily focusing on the 200m, as well as the men's 4x400m relay event. His seasonal best is 20.23, although his personal best is 19.84 seconds, which he had clocked in 2017. Apart from that, van Niekerk also helped South Africa finish second overall in the finals of the World Athletics Relays held at Nassau, Bahamas.

Wayde van Niekerk has decided to skip the 400m at the Paris Olympics, even though he qualified for it.