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Update April 25: Van Niekerk has decided to pull out of the SA SA Senior Track and Field Championships set to begin today because "the weather isn’t playing along so we don't want to take any chances," he said on Twitter.
Wayde van Niekerk is almost ready to compete at the SA Senior Track and Field Championships next week.
“At this stage, yes,” his coach Anna Botha told City Press this week when asked the question.
However, Tannie Ans – as the great-grandmother is known – warned that a lot would depend on the sprinter’s level of readiness for the April 25 to 27 meeting at the Germiston Stadium in Ekurhuleni.
“It will really depend on his progress. We cannot go if we pick up that something is not good. We really have to handle the situation with great care and patience.”
The world 400m record holder made his eagerly awaited return to the track in February – it was the first time he had raced in more than a while as he sustained a knee injury during a celebrity touch rugby match in October 2017.
Van Niekerk won the Free State Championships title in the one-lap event on February 23, clocking 47.28 seconds in Bloemfontein just a few days after he had turned up at a low-key university hostel meeting.
Botha said her charge “coped very well” on the two occasions, but that the 26-year-old needed good recovery time between the races.
“I gave him three to four days off after the Free State and the university races, and we started training all over again after that,” said the 76-year-old trainer.
Prior to his two appearances, Van Niekerk spent time undergoing rehabilitation in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, which, coincidentally, will stage this year’s IAAF World Championships.
In his last international race, the reigning global champion finished second in the 200m at the World Championships in London on August 10 2017, two days after successfully defending his 400m world crown.
Botha said not pushing Van Niekerk too hard would also conserve some of his energy for the Doha global competition, which runs from October 6 to September 27, and where the Olympic champion will be bidding for his third consecutive 400m title.
A lot changed while Van Niekerk was shuttling between Bloemfontein and Qatar to repair his damaged knee last year. When he does eventually return to the international stage, he will have to contend with the likes of Michael Norman from the US, who ended last season with the world’s leading time of 43.61s
There is also Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas, who dipped under 44s twice last year, as well as Fred Kerley of the US, who annexed the Diamond League title.
Locally, Pieter Conradie wore the 400m national crown while Van Niekerk was away.
Thapelo Phora, who was selected for Team SA over the one-lapper to last year’s Commonwealth Games, is the local with the fastest time over the distance so far this season.
The 27-year-old finished second at a race in Pretoria this week. He clocked 45.29s behind Abderrahman Samba of Qatar, whose 44.60s ranks as the world’s leading mark over the one-lapper so far.
But it is still early days as the international season is not yet in full swing, and Van Niekerk hinted last month that he hadn’t lost touch with his strides.
“The people I’ve been working with – my team in Doha and in Bloem – have been analysing and they see the old Wayde running stride coming back,” he told a media conference at the launch of his sponsorship renewal in Sandton, Johannesburg, last month.
“That is positive for me to hear – knowing I am back to the stride, the form and the technique that I want, and that I haven’t lost anything like that,” he said.
