By Daily Sports on August 9, 2017

 Wayde van Niekerk stormed to the first part of his golden double as he defended his world 400 metres title with a dominant display.

With one of his main rivals Isaac Makwala absent after being excluded controversially on medical grounds, Olympic champion and world record holder Van Niekerk left the rest of the field in his wake, underlining his status as the sport's new superstar in the post-Bolt world.

The South African's time of 43.98 seconds was almost a second down on the astonishing record he set a year ago in Rio, but he was still 0.43secs clear of Steven Gardiner in second and the fast-finishing Abdalelah Haroun in third.

On a night when Britain's Kyle Langford continued the series of near-misses for the host nation by finishing an agonising 0.04secs off an 800m bronze, the row over Makwala's exclusion saw a bitter exchange of words between his Botswanan team and the IAAF medical team.

Whether Makwala, who was chasing his own 200m/400m double, would have got close to Van Niekerk is another matter, as the favourite was able to ease off in the final few metres without ever looking as if he had extended himself.

In front of another capacity crowd at the London Stadium, a brilliant pole vault competition won by USA's Sam Kendricks and the 800m victory of France's Pierre-Ambroise Bosse also helped light up a cold night.

•Photo shows Wayde van Niekerk.

Source Daily Sports

Posted August 9, 2017

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