Fit-again Wayde van Niekerk continues fabulous form with fast 400m win in Jamaica

South Africa's sprinting star Wayde van Niekerk continued his fine season form after winning the men's 400m at the 2023 Racers Grand leg of the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver series in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday. 

Van Niekerk clocked his second-fastest time of the year, 44.21 seconds, which was marginally slower than the blistering 44.17 seconds he took to win the South African National Championships title in Potchefstroom earlier this year.

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The 2016 Olympic Gold medalist and world 400m record holder surpassed Kirani James’ previous meeting record of 44.35 seconds set in 2018. 

"I was just trying execute the race plan. The plan was to attack the last 120m, so when I got there, I wanted to make sure to put a good effort in and I think it went well," the 30 year-old told World-Track.org.

"This is a consistent start and a positive to work towards. This positive momentum gives me a solid foundation to build upon."

Although he is still shy of his 43-second mark that he's targeted since setting the 43.03 record time in Rio, Van Niekerk's performance bodes well for the track star ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest starting on 19 August.