Injured Wayde van Niekerk pulls out of SA championships

Wayde van Niekerk has pulled out of the SA championships in Cape Town because of injury, TimesLIVE has been told.

The 400m world record-holder, looking to defend the 200m crown he won in Pretoria last year, hurt his hamstring while training in Bloemfontein after arriving back from his base in the US, organisers said.

He had also entered the men’s 100m, which was scheduled to be run on the opening day on Thursday. The meet ends on Saturday.

Van Niekerk said he was disappointed. “I was really excited and looking forward to competing this weekend but unfortunately things have not been going my way the last few weeks.

“But my spirits are definitely still here, still going to definitely keep on putting on the hard work and hopefully I can get back on the track and show you guys the hard work that I’ve put out there.”

Since he injured his right knee in late 2017, Van Niekerk’s comeback has been hampered with niggles along the way, often pulling out on the eve of races.

He was eliminated from the Tokyo Olympics in the 400m semifinals.

While Van Niekerk completed the 200m without issues at the SA showpiece last year, he hasn’t gone through three 400m rounds in competition since the 2017 world championships.

Van Niekerk, who turns 30 in mid-July, has up to three competitions to regain his international footing this year — at the African championships in June, the world championships in July and the Commonwealth Games from July 28 to August 8.

The father-of-one said he was still planning on competing later in the season. “For now [I] just [want to] get back to working and do what needs to be done ... I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”