Don’t be surprised if the next time Wayde van Niekerk’s name is up in lights it’s for breaking the 400m world record.

It’s a target the world champion’s team has quietly mapped out, but typically for the low-key athlete they don’t make a song and dance of it. Few even knew he was competing in his Bloemfontein hometown last weekend, but when he pulled out a sub-10 sec 100m, the news shot around the world. Elite sprinters regularly dip below 10 seconds, but up to now none has combined such speed over 100m, 200m and 400m.

Not even Michael Johnson managed such versatility, although if Usain Bolt was in the mood he could probably run a sub-44 sec 400m.

Johnson’s 400m world record of 43,18 sec has stood for 17 years. Van Niekerk’s personal best is 43,48, the sixth-fastest of all-time and roughly two metres adrift of Johnson in a practical sense. Only three have run faster: Johnson, Jeremy Wariner and Harry Reynolds.

It puts the South African into a stratosphere all his own. LaShawn Merritt, his chief international rival, is joint 11^th on the all-time list and he’s the only other active 400m athlete in the top 15.

Although Van Niekerk began his sprinting career in the Western Cape with the 100m and 200m, he graduated to 400m years later. He now drops down to improve his speed work, which suggests his 400m time will get quicker. Given perfect conditions, and perhaps with someone to chase for 200m, the South African could crack Johnson’s record.

(He famously works with a 74-year-old coach, “Tannie Ans”, whose results have been remarkable).

Van Niekerk’s blistering 9,98 sec time last weekend came out of the blue, but in the context of SA sprinting, we shouldn’t have been surprised. Van Niekerk emerged as a teen alongside the blitsvinnig trio of Akani Simbine, Anaso Jabodwana and Heinricho Bruintjies. They were rivals and friends. They fed off each other’s success and even now encourage one another.

Simbine’s recent 9,96 sec run gave him the record outright, having jointly held it with Bruintjies until earlier this month. Not forgetting Jabodwana, who cracked a bronze racing alongside Bolt at last year’s 200m world championship final in Beijing.

It was at the same championship where Van Niekerk so memorably ran the race of his life, collapsing in a heap at the end before being stretchered off the track.

It was one of the striking images of Beijing and thrust Van Niekerk into the public consciousness.

His gold medal never quite translated into untold riches, a fact we were reminded of this week when corporate South Africa was criticised for not coming to the party with sponsorship.

It’s an easy stone to throw their way, but the truth is that athletics in this country is dogged by controversy. The sport is poorly served by administrators who don’t exactly charm sponsors with their behaviour.

The other reality is that with few exceptions corporates are loath to sponsor individual athletes given the damage wrought by recent scandals. Think Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Oscar Pistorius, Michael Vick and, yes, Maria Sharapova.

Van Niekerk’s profile could enter a new realm if he wins gold in Rio later this year. Despite a compelling claim for a place in the 4x100m relay team, his focus will be entirely on the 400m. He’s not a relay specialist and anything that takes his eyes off the big prize must be shut down.

He has a plan and will soon hit the tracks of Rome, Jamaica and Boston before heading back to Europe for two Diamond League meets.

Van Niekerk already ranks among the best track athletes produced by South Africa. Former world record holders Paul Nash and Marcello Fiasconaro are up there, plus the 800m pair of Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and Hezekiel Sepeng.

SA has had a 400m Olympic champion – Bevil Rudd won in Antwerp in 1920 – but if Van Niekerk equals the feat, he would have a sound argument to being SA’s best track athlete of all time.

Matching world gold with Olympic gold is unprecedented in SA history, plus he has stellar 100m and 200m times that qualify him as a very special talent.

Meanwhile, watch that 400m world record. Van Niekerk is chasing it down. – © Sunday Tribune