Bruised knee delays Van Niekerk’s comeback

PARIS: South Africa’s Olympic 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk is to miss this month’s Diamond League meets in Monaco and London after suffering a knee injury in training.

Van Niekerk, who is the two-time defending world champion and also world record holder in the one-lap discipline, has been out injured since October 2017. This season he has run a 400m at a provincial championships in Bloemfontein, but has not yet competed on the international stage, with the world athletics championships set for Doha between September 27-October 6.

“Sadly guys, I’ve had a minor setback on my road to recovery,” the 26-year-old tweeted. “I’ve been pushing myself a bit too hard in training so that I can make a memorable comeback, but I have picked up a bone bruise on my knee so won’t be participating in the upcoming @Diamond_League events.”

The South African, who was slated to race in Monaco on July 12 and London on July 20/21, underwent a scan which showed that the ligaments and meniscus of his right knee were unaffected but there was a bone bruise which has set him back five to six weeks, according to his management team.

Van Niekerk, cousin of Toulouse’s fleet-footed Springbok full-back Cheslin Kolbe, tore his right knee ligaments in a celebrity touch rugby match just weeks after storming to world gold in London in 2017.

Van Niekerk won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics in 43.03 seconds, smashing a record set by American Michael Johnson in 1999. The feat came between two world gold medals, in Beijing and the British capital. The South African is the only athlete to run under 10 seconds in the 100m, under 20 seconds in the 200m and under 44 seconds in the 400m.