Wayde van Niekerk wins 400m final in 43.03, shattering world record

ByABC News
August 14, 2016, 10:00 PM

— -- RIO DE JANEIRO -- Bursting out of the blocks in Lane 8, Wayde van Niekerk didn't see another runner during the entire Olympic 400-meter final.

He didn't need to. It was just him against the clock.

The South African sprinter broke Michael Johnson's 17-year-old world record on Sunday night in Rio de Janeiro, leaving two of the greatest one-lap runners of this era in his dust. Van Niekerk finished in 43.03 seconds -- 0.15 seconds faster than Johnson in 1999. In doing so, Van Niekerk became the first South African to win an Olympic gold medal on the track since 1928, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

The 24-year-old Van Niekerk leaned at the finish line, which he really didn't need to do, as Kirani James (43.76) of Grenada and LaShawn Merritt (43.85) of the Unites States weren't even in the picture. James, the defending Olympic champion, finished with the silver and Merritt, who won gold eight years ago in Beijing, hung on for bronze as he staggered across the line.

Van Niekerk drove a wedge in the rivalry between James and Merritt at the world championships last August, when he beat them both with such a lung-searing performance that he left the track on a stretcher.

Now, he's the fastest ever.

This time at the finish, instead of collapsing, Van Niekerk dropped to one knee and put his head in his hands. Moments later, he put the multi-colored South African flag around his shoulders and took off his spikes. As he did so, Van Niekerk pointed at the clock to make sure everyone saw his time.

Hard to miss. It was that impressive.

Even Johnson thought so. In comments for the BBC -- he's a track and field TV analyst for them -- Johnson said, "Oh my God! From Lane 8, a world record. He took it out so quick. I have never seen anything from 200 to 400 like that.

"That was a massacre from Wayde van Niekerk. He just put those guys away."

Johnson set the previous world record of 43.18 at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain. Van Niekerk's previous personal record was 43.48.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.?