Good to be back: In-form Wayde van Niekerk to lead SA's charge at World Championships

Wayde van Niekerk's belated yet also timely return to decent form was confirmed on Wednesday after he was named as arguably the biggest drawcard for Team South Africa at the upcoming World Championships.

The showpiece event starts in Budapest on August 19.

The 31-year-old, who's fought a near five-year battle to recover from a knee ligament sustained back in 2017 in an infamous celebrity touch rugby game, boasts two impressive Diamond League victories from last month.

He scorched to an excellent victory in the men's 400m in Silesia, clocking a fine time of 44.08sec, before following that up with a triumph in London, where he was slower at 44.36sec.

A near month's recuperation back in his US base should do him well.

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Meanwhile, Akani Simbine will lead the local charge in the men's 100m.

The 29-year-old notably galloped to a win in selfsame Silesia, crossing the finish line in 9.97sec and has the added incentive of finally breaking his medal drought at the World Champs.

Joining them on the track and field is veteran hurdler Antonio Alkana, former World Championships finalist with the discus Victor Hogan , and previous Diamond League meeting winners Zakithi Nene (400m) and Luxolo Adams (200m).

Simbine will captain the 4x100m relay team too.

In all fairness, the women's group isn't saddled with particularly high expectations owing to a lack of experience, but the hurdler duo of Zeney van der Walt and Marione Fourie should be competitive.

The latter raised eyebrows last month when she broke the national 110m hurdles record with a time of 12.55sec.

"Our team is out and it's time to go and showcase what they have fought so much for," said James Moloi, Atheltics