World 400m record holder Wayde van Niekerk has suffered a “minor setback” in his recovery from injury and could miss the rest of the Diamond League season.
The Olympic and world champion suffered a damaging knee injury during a game of celebrity touch rugby on 31st October 2017.
The injury left him out of action for over 17 months until his return in February this year which saw him ease to a win in 47.28 seconds for the 400m at the provincial Free State championships in Bloemfontein.
However, his position in this event now looks to be in tatters, with a recent scan revealing a bone bruise that has hampered his return from injury.
“It’s very disappointing,” said the 26-year-old, “I’ve been pushing myself too hard in training so that I can make a memorable comeback.
“Now I’m working towards the goal patiently and I will review my competition schedule with my team, and together with my coach, we will decide where and when to race.”
Sadly guys, I’ve had a minor setback on my road to recovery. I’ve been pushing myself abit too hard in training so that I can make a memorable comeback but I have picked up a bone bruise on my knee so won’t be participating in the upcoming @Diamond_League events. 😔 pic.twitter.com/CY2NXQGkyy
— Wayde van Niekerk (@WaydeDreamer) July 1, 2019
The focus now lies on this year’s IAAF World Championships as the sprint endurance star prepares to defend his 400m title from 2019 and make it a hat-trick of world championship golds.
van Niekerk has nearly three months to prepare for the worlds in Qatar and to shake off his latest injury setback.
The header image on this article has been used in accordance with the under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
