Wayde van Niekerk 'not seriously hurt' after pulling up in race

The word coming out of Wayde van Niekerk’s camp is that the Olympic 400m champion is not seriously hurt after pulling up in a sprint in the US on Sunday.

The straight 200m race at the Boston Games was won by Jerome Blake of Canada in 19.89 ahead of Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (19.93).

Van Niekerk‚ who arrived at his new training camp with coach Lance Brauman in Florida only two weeks ago, after a months-long wait because of Covid-19 protocols‚ was fourth in 20.86.

Van Niekerk told his coach his right hip tightened up and “he pulled up to make sure he didn’t do any more damage”‚ said a source close to his camp.

He limped off the track‚ but one report from the race quoted a broadcaster saying he was walking normally later.

Van Niekerk is yet to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games‚ and will have to beat the 44.90sec automatic entry standard before the qualifying window closes on June 29.

He clocked his 43.03 world record winning gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics.