SA proud of Wayde

2015-07-08 06:00

Oteng Mpete

WAYDE VAN NIEKERK Photo: Sidwell Guduka

SOUTH AFRICAN sprinting sensation Wayde van Niekerk improved on his own national mark at the Paris Diamond League meeting on Saturday.

Van Niekerk continued his rise in international track and field beating Olympic champion Kirani James from Grenada.

He won the men’s 400 m in 43.97 seconds to shave 0.28 s off his previous best he set in New York last month.

James had to be content with second place with his time of 44.17 s.

Rounding off the podium, David Verburg of the United States clocked 44.81 s for third place. The Free State athlete’s time is the second fastest this season, 0.02 s slower than James’s best this year.

South African javelin queen Sunette Viljoen, meanwhile, grabbed bronze with a best throw of 63,15 m.

Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic claimed first place with a throw of 64,42 m while Australia’s Kimberley Mickle took silver with 63,80 m. South African women’s 400 m hurdles ace Wenda Nel finished in fifth place in her specialist event with a time of 54.61 s.

Elsewhere, long jumper Zarck Visser leapt to the second best distance by a South African with his 8,41 m at the Bad Langensalza long-jump meeting in Germany.

Visser, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist, is nine centimetres shy of Khotso Mokoena’s African record of 8,50 m.

– Sport24

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