Based: Bloemfontein
South African Track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current World and Olympic record holder, having set the record when he won the event at the 2016 Olympics.
Van Niekerk was the silver medallist in the 400m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and took silver in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2013 Summer universiade. He also represented South Africa at the 2013 and 2015 Athletics World Championships . At the 2015 World Championships, he won the gold medal in the 400 Metres. He defended his title two years later, in London, where he also won the silver medal in the 200 Metre race.
In the 2016 Olympic Games men’s 400m , Van Niekerk won the gold medal with a world record time of 43.03 seconds, beating the time of 43.18 seconds set by Michael Johnson in 1999.
In 2016, Van Niekerk became the first sprinter in history to have run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds, 200 Metres in under 20 seconds, and 400 metres in under 44 seconds. In 2017, after a 30.81 seconds victory in the seldom-run 300 metres distance, breaking Michael Johnson’s world-best time of 30.85 which was set in 2000, Van Niekerk became the only sprinter in history to have run sub-10, sub-20, sub-31 and sub-44 performances at 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m respectively.
On 8 August 2017, Van Niekerk successfully defended his 400 metres world title at the 2017 World Championships in Athleticsin London with a time of 43.98 seconds. Two days later, he finished second in the 200m in 20.11 seconds at the World Championships. He became the first South African athlete to land two individual sprint medals at a single meet.
On 31 October 2017, Van Niekerk participated in a celebrity-funded rugby match sponsored by FC soccer. During this match, he made an inverted cut and tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). He began treatment immediately after surgery, and due to this injury, he was unable to attend any meets during 2018. Van Niekerk had been in intense rehabilitation throughout 2018, to prepare himself for the beginning of the 2019 season and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. On 31 May 2019, it was announced that he would run at the IAAF Dimond league event in London in July, his first major race since his comeback from injury. He did not eventually compete in the 2019 World Championships and failed to reach the 400m final in the 2020 Olympic Games but finished 5th in the 400m final in the 2022 World Championships.
