Johannesburg – Defending 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk has secured his place at the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games after achieving the qualifying criteria at the World Athletics Continental Tour meeting in Madrid, Spain on Saturday night.
Running his first 400m race of the season after bouncing back from a serious knee injury last year, Van Niekerk took second place in Madrid in 44.56 seconds.
His time was inside the required standard of 44.90 to compete in Tokyo.
Colombian Anthony Jose Zambrano won the race in 44.51.
Van Niekerk, who set the 400m world record (43.03) to win gold at the 2016 Rio Games, will form part of a strong South African track and field team, and will be expected to form part of the relay teams.
In Italy, Caster Semenya the 800m Olympic champion, clocked 15:57.12 to finish fourth position in the women’s 500m, leaving her outside the 15:10.00 Olympic qualifying time.
Athletes have until 29 June 2021 to meet the qualifying criteria in their events to book their places in the final national squad which will be announced by SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.
“We congratulate Wayde, his coaches and support staff for meeting the qualifying standard to book his ticket to the Olympics,” said James Moloi, the president of Athletics South Africa (ASA).
“His time may be still way out of his personal best and world record, but for now it was about qualifying,” said Moloi.
“All other athletes still have opportunities to qualify before the cut-off date and must not lose hope. We need all our top athletes in Tokyo, especially our 2016 medallists to defend their medals.
“We urge all our athletes still seeking qualification to keep going and not to lose hope, because it’s not over until it’s over. Therefore, make use of all available competitions everywhere you can find them to succeed and prepare like everyone else.”
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