Week in Review: It's been a long road back
Van Niekerk returning to form after suffering knee injuries five years ago
Wayde van Niekerk might never again approach the world record of 43.03 seconds in the men’s 400 meters that he set in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
However, it was heartening to see the 30-year-old South African become one of the top half-dozen quarter-milers in the world during the last three months of the 2022 track and field season that ended, for all intents and purposes, last week.
The two-time World champion, who sustained a pair of devastating injuries to his right knee in the fall of 2017, capped a very compacted 11-week competitive season on Sept. 12 when he ran a season best of 44.33 to win the Gala dei Castelli meet in Bellinzona, Switzerland.
The meet-record time gave him a narrow margin of victory over World Athletics Championships silver medalist Kirani James of Grenada (44.38) and was his fastest time since the 2017 season during which he had a best of 43.62.
“Tonight was a good performance,” van Niekerk said in a post on the World Athletics website. “The last three competitions in Europe came off a challenging World Championships in Eugene. I used a month to put in some good work and finished the season on a good note. I am pleased with that.”
Van Niekerk was one of the most popular and highly-regarded track and field athletes in the world at the end of the 2017 season, as he had won his second consecutive World title in August of that year, and placed second in the 200 to boot. He was also the only man in history at that time to have run under 10 seconds in the 100, under 20 in the 200, and under 44 in the 400. But he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus cartilage in his right leg in October of that year while playing in a charity tag rugby match.
Tag rugby, which is similar to flag football in the U.S., is designed to minimize the chances of players sustaining major injuries as it does not involve tackling. But van Niekerk’s injuries were the beginning of a 2½-year stretch in which he did not compete.
He opened the 2020 season with a 47.42 clocking in February of that year, but did not race again until he ran 45.58 in the annual meet in Bellinzona in September after most of the season had been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He posted times of 44.56 and 44.87 in winning races in Madrid and Lucerne, Switzerland, in June of last year. But he was eliminated in the semifinals of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in August when he ran 45.14 to finish a non-qualifying fifth in one of three races.
He did not run a 400 again until July 2 of this year when he ran a winning 44.58 in the Stars and Stripes Classic meet at Marietta High School in Georgia.
He advanced to the final of the World Championships at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field on July 22 and finished fifth in 44.97 after running 44.75 in his semifinal two days earlier.
He then ran 45.19 to finished second in the Spitzen Leichtathletik meet in Lucerne on Aug. 30 before clocking 44.39 to win a pre-program race in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on Sept. 8.
“I tried my best to execute the race and not overdo it and I think it worked out well,” he said after that performance. “The year has been challenging. I had to fight a lot of doubts and fears, but I think it is going the right direction. It was just about getting back to believe in myself. I feel good—this was a good indication for me and great step forward. The main goal was to finish the season healthy and start the new season in a better position. I want to go back to the medals and challenge the top ones.”
Running in lane three on the six-lane oval in Bellinzona, van Niekerk was a close second to James as the pair entered the home straightaway. But he inched past his fellow 30-year-old with 40 meters left in the race and defeated the 2012 Olympic champion by about a foot.
His 44.33 clocking ranks seventh on the yearly world performer list and should give van Niekerk plenty of confidence as he sets his sights on next year, when the World Championships will be held in Budapest, Hungary, from Aug. 19-27. However, I would be surprised if he contemplates competing in the 400 and 200 in that meet.
He ran both events in the 2017 World Championships but has said previously that the double – which required him to run six races in six days – no doubt contributed to the knee injuries he suffered less than three months later.
“Yes, it obviously did play a role and left my body a bit fatigued,” he said in an article in The Guardian in February of 2021. “2017 was probably the most physical, competitive challenge that I’ve ever had and it might have taken a lot out of my body. When you play a touch rugby match you’re looking for trouble. But I’m at peace with what happened and I’m excited for what the future holds. I’m putting everything that I can into getting back and I feel stronger than ever.”
Looking back at a legendary performance: When van Niekerk ran in the 200 and 400 meters in the 2017 World Championships in London, he was trying to match the double-gold medal performance that Michael Johnson of the U.S. had produced in the 1995 World title meet in Gothenburg, Sweden, and in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
While Johnson had wooed the track and field world by setting meet records of 19.79 in the 200 and 43.39 in the 400 in Gothenburg, his performance in Atlanta, which he capped with a 19.32-second clocking in the 200 that stood as the world record for 12 years, made him an Olympic legend. It might be even more impressive in hindsight when you consider what he did.
He began his quest to become the first man in history to win the 200 and 400 in the same Olympics by cruising to a second-place time of 45.80 in a first-round heat of the 400 on July 26.
He followed that with winning performances of 44.62 in his quarterfinal and 44.59 in his semifinal on July 27 and 28, respectively.
He set a then-Olympic record of 43.49 in the final the following day while finishing nearly a second in front of silver medalist Roger Black of Great Britain, who ran 44.41.
A day and a half later, he ran 20.55 to win a first-round heat of the 200 during the morning of July 31 before winning a quarterfinal in 20.37 that evening.
He won a semifinal in 20.27 at about 7:10 p.m. the next evening before winning the final in a stunning 19.32 an hour and 50 minutes later.
Johnson’s time annihilated the previous world record of 19.66 he set in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta 5½ weeks earlier and gave him a massive margin of victory over silver-medalist Frankie Fredericks of Namibia, whose 19.68 clocking made him the second-fastest man in history.
Johnson set a world record of 43.18 in the 400 in the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain. But I have always felt that his 19.32 clocking in the 200 in Atlanta was the greatest single performance of his career.
Ato Boldon, a longtime track and field commentator for NBC Sports who finished third in Atlanta in a then-national record of 19.80 for Trinidad and Tobago, was quoted as saying, “19.32, that’s not a time, that’s my dad’s birthday.”
Tenth time under 48 seconds: Alison dos Santos capped a breakout season by winning the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 47.61 seconds in the meet in Bellinzona.
The time was a meet record and made the 22-year-old Brazilian the first intermediate hurdler in history to have 10 sub-48 clockings in the same season.
Before this year, the previous high was 9, first set by Danny Harris in 1990 and tied by fellow American Kevin Young in 1992 and by Abderraham Samba of Qatar in 2018.
Dos Santos, who began the outdoor season by running a personal best of 44.54 in the 400 to finish second to Michael Cherry of the U.S. (44.28) in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on April 16, was undefeated in the intermediate hurdles this year, winning 12 races overall, including 10 finals.
He won the World Championships in 46.29, the third-fastest time in history, on July 19, and also ran 46.80, the seventh fastest time ever, in winning the Bauhaus-Galan meet in Stockholm on June 30.
“I came here just to win the race. I wanted to give 100%,” dos Santos said after the Gala dei Castelli meet. “The fans in Bellinzona are amazing and deserved a good performance. I love this city and the atmosphere of Bellinzona. I met children during the kids’ clinic on Sunday. That moment was very special as I want to be a role model for future generations.”
Finishing the season on a winning note: Joe Kovacs concluded the best season of his career by winning the men’s shot put in Bellinzona with a top mark of 22.19 meters (72 feet 9¾) to defeat fellow American and World champion Ryan Crouser (22.00/72-2¼) for the third time in their last four meetings.
Crouser, the two-time defending Olympic champion, defeated Kovacs the first three times they competed against each other this season. But Kovacs defeated Crouser in winning the Athletissima meet in Lausanne on Aug. 26 and the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on Sept. 7 before his victory in the Gala dei Castelli.
Kovacs’ victory in Zurich was particularly sweet for the 33-year-old putter as his top mark of 23.23 (76-2¾) was the third best performance in history and made him the fourth man to top the 23-meter (75-5½) mark.
Finishing strong: Marie-Josee’ Ta Lou of Ivory Coast had the top performance by a woman in Bellinzona as she won the 100 meters in 10.86 to cap off a season in which she ran 10.91 or faster five times after finishing a disappointing seventh in 10.93 in the World Championships.
The 33-year-old Ta Lou, who finished fourth in the 100 in the Olympic Games last year, ran 10.92 in a qualifying heat in the World Championships and 10.87 in a semifinal, but she did not perform well in the final.
However, she ran an African record of 10.72 to finish third behind Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.62) and Shericka Jackson (10.71) in Monaco on Aug. 10, and clocked 10.78 to place third behind Jackson (10.73) and Fraser-Pryce (10.74) in the Memorial van Damme meet in Brussels on Sept. 2.
Ta Lou’s coach, John Smith, wrote in a series of texts that the disappointment of the World Championships served as motivation for her. He added that he worked with her in practice on “things that I saw based on her performances. It gave me more information to work with.”
Injury woes: Michael Cherry, another sprinter coached by Smith, was slowed by issues with his left Achilles tendon after opening the season with a yearly world-leading time of 44.28 seconds in the men’s 400 meters in the Mt. SAC Relays.
Cherry had finished fourth in the Olympic Games and set a personal best of 44.03 to win the Memorial van Damme meet in Brussels last September. But he did not break 45 seconds again this season after running so well at Mt. SAC.
He ran 45.04 to place sixth in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in late May, but finished a non-qualifying fourth in 45.28 in a semifinal of the World Championships. He had been awarded a bye into the World Championships by winning the Diamond League final in 44.41 in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich last September.
Going out with a win: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won the women’s 100-meter hurdles in 12.72 seconds in the Gala dei Castelli meet, but this was not an easy season for the Olympic champion.
The 26-year-old Camacho-Quinn, who lives in the U.S. but competes for her mom’s native country of Puerto Rico, won 12 of the 17 finals this season. But one of those losses was a third-place finish in the World Championships in Eugene and another was a fourth-place performance in the Diamond League final in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich.
In contrast, Camacho-Quinn won all nine finals in which she ran last year, and also finished first in six qualifying heat or semifinal races.
“Since my Olympic title in Tokyo, my life has changed,” Camacho-Quinn said in Bellinzona. “This year has been challenging, but I managed to win the world bronze medal in Eugene.”
Prolific performer: Natoya Goule won the women’s 800 meters in 1 minute 59.05 seconds in Bellinzona to conclude another season in which the 31-year-old Jamaican did not shy away from running against the top half-milers in the world.
Goule, who finished fourth in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, in March, ran in 13 800-meter races during the outdoor season, including 10 finals in which she won twice, placed second twice, third once, fourth twice, fifth once, and sixth twice.
Her season best of 1:56.98 came in winning a Diamond League meet in Monaco in Aug. 10. That race followed a fourth-place finish in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, which came after a fifth-place performance in the World Championships in Eugene.
In comparison, the top three finishers in the World Championships – Athing Mu of the U.S., Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain, and Mary Moraa of Kenya – ran in 4, 8, and 11 800-meter finals this season.
Interesting fact: This was an unusual season in the men’s 100 meters, as for only the third time in the past 26 years, no one ran under 9.90 seconds in the months of August or September.
Granted, the World Championships were held in July, when that meet, as well as the Olympics, is typically staged in August or September. In addition, American Fred Kerley, the dominant 100-meter man in the world this year, did not race again after a quad injury limited him to a sixth-place finish in a semifinal of the 200 in the World Championships.
But it was still surprising to me that no one, including World Championship silver and bronze medalists Marvin Bracy and Trayvon Bromell of the U.S., ran under 9.90 during the remainder of the season that included several major meets in Europe.
2003 and ’17 were the only other seasons since 1997 in which no one has run under 9.90 in August or September.
In 2003, the fastest time in the world was a 9.93-second clocking by Patrick Johnson of Australia.
In 2017, Christian Coleman of the U.S. ran a yearly world-leading time of 9.82 in June, but that was the only sub-9.90 clocking of the season.
The 27-year-old Kerley, who led the U.S. to a 1-2-3 finish in the World Championships, ran a yearly world-leading time of 9.76 in a semifinal of the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene on June 24. He also posted times of 9.77, 9.79, 9.83, and 9.86 in that meet or in the World Championships.
Victorious end to a busy season: Lindon Victor of Grenada capped the best season of his career by winning the decathlon in the Decastar meet in Talence, France, that concluded on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Victor totaled 8,550 points to break his former national record of 8,539 set in 2017, and finish 357 points ahead of second place Manuel Eitel of Germany, who had 8,193 points. Risto Lillemets of Estonia placed third with 8,149 points.
Victor’s winning total also solidified his hold on third on the all-time Caribbean performer list behind Leonel Suarez of Cuba, who tallied 8,654 points in 2009, and Maurice Smith of Jamaica, who scored 8,644 in 2007.
The win came in his fourth decathlon of the year. He had finished second in the Hypo meet in Gotzis, Austria, in May; fifth in the World Championships in Eugene in July; and first in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, in August.
Known for excelling in the throwing events, Victor produced the best marks of the meet in Talence in the shot put (15.75/51-8¼), discus (51.00/167-4), and javelin (66.01/216-7).
Victor had a 128-point lead over second-place Finley Gaio of Switzerland after totaling 4,438 points on day one on Saturday.
Gaio took the lead after running 13.68 – to Victor’s 14.70 – in the 110 high hurdles to start the second day on Sunday. But the Grenadian took the lead for good with his effort in the discus. He followed that with a clearance of 4.80 (15-9) in the pole vault, his leading mark in the javelin, and a personal best of 4:43.74 in the 1,500.
Fit to be tied: The heptathlon ended in a rare tie for first place in Talence as Ivona Dadic of Austria and Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands both totaled 6,233 points. Bianca Salming of Sweden placed third with 6,028 points.
The 28-year-old Dadic had 3,689 points after the first four events on Saturday to enter the final three events on Sunday with a 112-point advantage over second-place Salming.
Oosterwegel was in fifth place with 3,503 points after the first day and the 24-year-old Dutchwoman lost another 28 points to Dadic in the long jump on Sunday when her best effort of 5.92 (19-5¼) trailed her rival’s 6.01 (19-8½). However, she took a nine-point lead over the Austrian after her 55.47 (182-0) effort in the javelin gave her 966 points in the event, 223 points better than the 743 that Dadic was awarded for her best throw of 43.92 (144-1).
The pair tied for first in the final standings after Dadic’s winning time of 2:11.22 in the 800 meters was worth 948 points, nine more than Oosterwegel was awarded for running 2:11.78 while finishing second.
Ethiopian sweep: Milkesa Mengesha and Tadu Teshome of Ethiopia each posted personal bests in winning the men’s and women’s divisions of the Copenhagen Half Marathon on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Mengesha ran 58 minutes 58 seconds as 15 runners ran under one hour, the most ever in a single half marathon race. Countryman Amedework Walelegn placed second in 59:05, with Kenyan Felix Kipkoech third in 59:07.
Those three were amongst a large lead pack that went through 5 kilometers in 14:02 and 10 kilometers in 28:10. They were among a dozen runners who passed 15 kilometers in 42:06 before Mengesha began to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field a little while after that in the race that was approximately 21.1 kilometers in length.
The lead pack in the women’s race came through 5 kilometers in a quick 15:19, but the 21-year-old tandem of Tisigie Gebreselama and Teshome had the lead to themselves when they passed 10 kilometers in 30:40.
Gebreselama had opened up a 30-second gap on second-place Teshome when she passed 15 kilometers in 46:39, but Teshome reeled in Gebreselama during the next four kilometers and moved into the lead with about two kilometers left in the race.
Her winning time of 1:06:13 left her well ahead of Gebreselama, who placed second in 1:06:35, and countrywoman Tiruye Mesfin, who finished third in 1:06:42.
In memory: USA Track & Field announced last week that George Woods, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the men’s shot put and a multiple world record setter in the event indoors, died in Edwardsville, Illinois, on August 30. He was 79.
Woods, who won the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1968, ’72, and ’76, placed second to fellow American Randy Matson in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. He was the runner-up in the Games again four years later in Munich when Pole Wladyslaw Komar finished a centimeter in front of him.
The seventh-place finisher in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Woods was ranked amongst the top 10 shot putters in the world by Track & Field News six times, including a No. 1 ranking for the 1972 season, and No. 2 rankings for 1968 and ’74.
The indoor season of 1974 was a memorable one for Woods as he upped the world amateur record five times. His crowning achievement came in the Los Angeles Times Indoor Games in Inglewood, California, when he raised the world indoor record three times.
His first record of that night – and third of the season – came when he put the shot 21.47 (70-5½) in the first round. He raised the mark to 21.56 (70-9) in the fourth round before unleashing a mammoth 22.01 (72-2¾) effort in round five that crushed the best-ever indoor mark of 21.60 (70-10½) set by professional Brian Oldfield.
The put was also longer than the standing outdoor world record of 21.82 (71-7¼), and after officials measured it, Woods exchanged bear hugs with fellow competitor and world outdoor record holder Al Feuerbach of the U.S., posed for photographs, and took a victory lap around the 160-yard track while receiving an ovation “that would have made the Rolling Stones jealous,” according to a story in Track & Field News.
I was 14 at the time and lucky enough to be in attendance at the meet that was held in the Fabulous Forum, the arena which was then home to the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.
I still recall the buzz in the crowd when Woods stepped into the ring for his fifth attempt, as well as the thunderous applause that erupted after he unleashed a put that was clearly farther than the world record he had set in the previous round.
It is still one of my favorite track and field memories.