Wayde van Niekerk withdrawn from Olympic 400m in bid to boost relays

Wayde van Niekerk has been withdrawn from the 400m at the Paris Olympics in a move some sources say will boost the South African 4x400m and 4x100m relay teams at the Games. 

He will also compete in the 200m, taking the place of Luxolo Adams who has been struggling with an injury this season.

Van Niekerk’s name disappeared from the World Athletics list of qualified Olympic 400m athletes for the Games that kick off on July 27. His agent, Peet van Zyl, was not aware of the withdrawal when contacted by TimesLIVE on Wednesday afternoon. 

A South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) official confirmed Van Niekerk had been withdrawn at the request of Athletics South Africa (ASA), adding he would race in the 200m. 

Sources close to the team said Van Niekerk would also be eligible to run in both relays. 

Van Niekerk is a crucial member of the 4x400m relay which won silver at World Relays in Bahamas in early May — and he could also help bolster the 4x100m outfit, which is missing a sharp third-leg runner capable of negotiating the bend. 

Van Niekerk ran two 4x400m relay legs this year, one at the Florida Relays in March and again in the heats in Bahamas before pulling out of the final there because of a niggle.

The time clocked by South Africa in the heats, with Van Niekerk, was faster than their time in the final without him.

The 2016 Olympic 400m champion has run only one individual 400m race so far this season, a 44.74sec effort that saw him finish third in New York. 

It would appear that the thinking is that the relays have better chances of medals with Van Niekerk on fresh legs than he has of making the podium in the individual 400m race.

Equally, the relay chances go down if Van Niekerk were to tire himself out by competing in the heats, semifinals and final of the 400m. 

It is not known to what extent Van Niekerk was party to the decision. Van Zyl had yet to get back to TimesLIVE. 

The 31-year-old Van Niekerk, owner of the 43.03 world record, has run five 200m events this season, posting his fastest times since injuring his right knee in 2017, although he finished second at the South African championships in April behind Benjamin Richardson.

His best effort has been a wind-assisted 20.23.

Two athletics sources said Adams would be withdrawn from the 200m, although that had not happened by 8pm on Wednesday. 

US-based Shaun Maswanganyi, Adams and Richardson qualified in the 200m for Paris on automatic entry times, while Sinesipho Dambile and Van Niekerk were in contention on world ranking positions, 34th and 41st respectively.

Nations can enter only a maximum of three athletes in a track and field event. 

But Van Niekerk got the nod for Adams’ spot ahead of Dambile because he finished ahead of him at the national championships and also boasted a faster season’s best. 

Dambile was a DNF in his last 200m race in Ireland on Tuesday and Adams, struggling to recover from injury himself, has run only once this year, finishing third in a pedestrian 21.50sec in Italy at the weekend, well off his 19.82 personal best from 2022.

Van Niekerk has done well in the 200m in the past, winning a world championship silver in 2017 and clocking 19.84 personal best.

But he is unlikely to be a serious contender in Paris — 17 athletes around the world have run under 20 seconds this year, seven of them under 19.90. 

So competing in a heat and probably a semifinal would be less taxing than him doing up to three rounds of 400m in the days leading up to the relays. 

The 400m final and 200m semifinals are both scheduled for August 7. The 4x100m final is on August 9 and the 4x400m final the next day. 

Van Niekerk could throw a spanner in the works if he were to make the 200m final on August 8.