Wayde van Niekerk will hope to get close to his 200m personal best of 19.84 seconds in tonight’s Paris Olympics semi-final. Photo: AFP
While all South African eyes will be on Wayde van Niekerk in Wednesday’s Paris Olympics action, two young athletes could make their marks at the Stade de France.
The 32-year-old Van Niekerk acknowledged that he had still had “a bit of work” to do if he was to reach the 200m final after clocking 20.42 seconds in Monday’s heat to advance to Wednesday night’s semi-finals (8.02pm).
The 400m world record holder and 2016 Rio champion – who decided not to take part in the one-lap race in France – will line up in the third semi-final, where he will have his work cut out for him in trying to clinch automatic qualification by finishing in the top two.
American Erriyon Knighton (19.77) and Zimbabwe’s Tapiwanashe Makarawu (19.93) have the two quickest times this year, while Van Niekerk’s season’s best of 20.29 ranks him eighth in the nine-man field.
He does have a 19.84 personal best, though, and claimed a silver medal at the 2017 world championships.
“It was a good initial run out of the bend, but I know there’s still a bit of work that needs to be done in the latter stages of the race,” Van Niekerk said after his 200m heat.
“But we will shake that off and try again in the next round. For sure, a bit rusty out of the first round, but I know I can still do better.”
The other South African entrant in the half-lap race is Shaun Maswanganyi, who will be going all out to improve on his semi-final finish at the Tokyo Games in 2021. The 23-year-old also reached the semi-finals in the 100m in Paris and Tokyo, and is positive that he can go even quicker than his 20.20 time from the heat.
At least Maswanganyi – who will race in the first semi-final – and Van Niekerk have avoided facing the two favourites for the gold medal: American 100m champion Noah Lyles and Botswana speedster Letsile Tebogo, who will square off in the second semi-final.
“Just happy to qualify nicely. The biggest thing is that you don’t want to run too many races. Thank God I made it through to the semi-final,” Maswanganyi said after his heat.
“But overall, I’m pretty satisfied. I know I can be a little better off the turn – that will make my straight a lot easier. But 20.2 is one of my fastest times, and that was a horribly executed race.
“So, I know there’s more to work on. I didn’t come out of the turn as well as I usually want to execute.
“I used too much energy on the turn – I want to be a little bit more efficient in the semi-final, so that I have a lot more in the home stretch ... I just want to make sure I make the final.”
Apart from the top two in each semi-final, the next two ‘fastest losers’ will also qualify for the final, which takes place on Thursday night (8.30pm).
Maswanganyi will also form part of the SA 4x100m relay team, who will begin their campaign for a podium spot in Thursday’s first round – although they won’t be able to call on Benjamin Richardson, who had to withdraw from the Olympics on Tuesday with a hamstring injury that he sustained in Monday’s 200m heats.
The other SA semi-finalist in action on Wednesday will be 400m star Miranda Coetzee, who produced a superb personal best time of 50.66 yesterday to finish second in the repechage round.
Coetzee will compete in the third women’s 400m semi-final on Wednesday night (8.45pm), where Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek will be the favourite with a season’s best time of 48.90.