Qatar's Abdalelah Haroun reacts after coming third in the final of the men's 400m athletics event at the 2017 IAAF World Championships at the London Stadium in London on August 8, 2017. AFP / Jewel Samad
London: Young Qatari sprinter Abdalelah Haroun blasted through in the final stretch to secure the bronze medal, clocking 44.48 seconds in the men’s 400 metres final of IAAF World Athletics Championships yesterday.
South African Wayde van Niekerk got his bid for an audacious 200/400m double off to a flying start when he defended his one-lap title yesterday while Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas was a clear second in 44.41. The 20-year-old world junior champion and Asian Champion Haroun made his way through to snatch bronze by overcoming Baboloki Thebe (Botswana) and Nathon Allen (Jamaica) in the final stretch.
At the London Stadium in London, United Kingdom yesterday, Van Niekerk, who also set the world record when winning Olympic gold in Rio last year, was in imperious form, running a devastating final bend to finish in 43.98 seconds.
“It’s an amazing blessing,” said Van Niekerk, whom Usain Bolt has pegged as his most likely successor as the athlete capable of dominating the track after the Jamaican sprint star’s exit from athletics after these world champs.
“I’ve got a good team that will help me recover after this and I’ll be back tomorrow.”
There was drama before the race, however, as the IAAF barred in-form Botswanan Isaac Makwala from competing after he was diagnosed with an infectious disease and ordered to observe a 48-hour quarantine.
That did not stop Makwala trying to get into the stadium before being refused entry.
“The IAAF is very sorry that the hard work and talent of Isaac Makwala won’t be on display tonight but we have to think of the welfare of all athletes,” world athletics’ governing body said in a statement.
And so Van Niekerk now turns to the 200m, in which neither Bolt nor the world’s fastest man this season, Makwala, are running.
Should Van Niekerk bag the double, it would be the first since American Michael Johnson achieved the feat at the 1995 worlds in Gothenburg and a year later at the Atlanta Olympics.
