'Wayde van Niekerk is going to run faaaaaaast,' says Mathew Quinn

Two key character traits have contributed to the success of Wayde van Niekerk‚ according to a former world champion sprinter.

One is that Van Niekerk prefers to challenge himself rather than focus on the rivals around him‚ and the other is he thrives on the big stage.

Mathew Quinn‚ who had tipped Van Niekerk to beat the 300m world best held by Michael Johnson this week‚ says the speedster “runs for himself‚ to challenge himself”.

“He doesn’t want to beat [400m rivals Kirani] James and [LaShawn] Merritt‚ etc‚ he wants to give his best. Constantly test his limits.

“He just happens to smash everyone when testing himself‚” said Quinn‚ a 4x100m relay gold medallist at the 2001 world championships.

In the space of 19 days Van Niekerk has run personal bests over three distances — in the 200m (19.84 SA record and world lead in Jamaica)‚ 100m (9.94sec in Slovenia) and most recently the 30.81 300m in the Czech Republic.

He was already the only man on the planet to have run a sub-10 100m‚ sub-20 200m and sub-44 400m‚ but after lowering his 31.03 300m PB‚ Van Niekerk is now being touted as the only man to have also done a sub-31 300m.

“He lives for the big occasion and the big challenges.

“In Jamaica he wanted the SA [200m] record and went out and got it‚” said Quinn‚ adding Van Niekerk would lift his game even higher at the world championships in London in August.

After breaking Johnson’s 400m and 300m world marks‚ the question must be posed whether Van Niekerk is capable of beating Johnson’s 200m 19.32 effort that had stood as a world record until Usain Bolt‚ who lowered it twice‚ to 19.30 in 2008 and then 19.19 in 2009?

Bolt’s countryman‚ Yohan Blake‚ is the only other man to have gone faster than Johnson‚ clocking 19.26 in 2011.

“I think the vibe [and] the excitement of worlds‚ we will see something special from him [Van Niekerk] in the 200m.

"Maybe not time‚ but more performance.

“In the 400m he knows he has Merritt’s and James’ numbers. Fred Kerley brings out a new challenge.”

American student Kerley holds the 400m world lead on 43.70‚ while Van Niekerk isn’t even in the top 140 in the world.

But that is likely to change drastically when he runs his first international one-lapper in the Lausanne Diamond League on Thursday next week.

“He is going to run faaaaaaast‚” said Quinn.

“I think he will go 43. No one will be close to him and he won’t have to push hard.

“But Wayde is a guy who challenges himself every time he runs. He wants to show his best every time.”

In London Van Niekerk will attempt to become the second man to win the 200m and 400m world championship double after Johnson in 1995.

- TimesLIVE