Wayde van Niekerk to miss 400m at Commonwealth Games, focus on sprints

Wayde van Niekerk levelling up on his legacy..

Wayde van Niekerk, the world record holder in the 400m, will focus on the sprint distances in 2018. The Citizen reported that Van Niekerk confirmed this news at the launch of a T-Systems documentary on his life.

Van Niekerk had previously indicated that he wants to give the 100m and 200m a go and that he would consider not running in the longer distance in order to achieve his goal.

“I’ll definitely be doing the 100m and 200m,” Van Niekerk said.

“I think I’ve put out some great performances, and we’ll have to look at the selection criteria and what they need from me, but we’ll try and do the job,” Van Niekerk said.

“If I’m selected, I’ll compete in those events.”

Although Sascoc’s official qualification criteria for the Commonwealth Games has not been confirmed, Athletics South Africa (ASA) has revealed that there will be plenty of events for athletes to secure their spots.

Twenty-three track and field meetings will be used as qualifiers ahead of the Games scheduled to be held on Australia’s Gold Coast in April.

The first already took place in Potchefstroom last week. The final event will be in Cape Town on 15 December.

The preliminary athletics team will be submitted to the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) in the first week of January.