Her record-breaking son had to be taken to hospital after winning a gruelling 400m final at the world championships in Beijing yesterday, but Odessa Swarts couldn't have sounded cooler. Wayde van Niekerk beat reigning champion LaShawn Merritt of the US and Olympic champion Kirani James of Grenada to claim the sixth-fastest 400m of all time: 43.48sec. It is also a South African and African record."I managed to keep myself busy all day. But I got back at 3pm and those 25 minutes [before the race] felt like 25 hours. We watched with a group of his friends, and I can't explain the ecstasy that was in this house," Swarts said from her Cape Town home."We spoke last night [Tuesday], and he told me: 'Mommy, I still need to sleep, but don't worry I've got this. I trust God'." ... Normally when he is running a big race, I play music and pray all day, but I woke up so calm because he was so calm."Only a few years back, Van Niekerk was a 200m specialist, but after tearing his hamstring and struggling with recurring niggles he was encouraged by coach Anna Sophia Botha to switch to 400m to help him improve endurance. He then had to endure those dreaded repetitions of 800m and 1000m."He wasn't happy with all of us. He would come home after training and say: 'I hate 400m, why would you make me do that?' But my husband [stepfather Steven] did a lot of convincing. He completely hated the event. I think he still does. But after today he will have to say thank you for all those programmes [we put him on]."..