Lythe Pillay: South Africa’s rising 400m star on racing with his hero

Lythe Pillay is forging his path on the global athletics scene but admits that his rise and that of many South African sprinters are undeniably tethered to the legacy of Wayde van Niekerk.

Young upstart Pillay is delivering on his early promise and seems to be taking in his stride the transition into the seniors heading into his second Olympic Games appearance* at Paris 2024.

“To a large part, I am here because of Wayde, and the fact that we saw someone break a world record at the Olympics from South Africa," Pillay told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview.

"We always thought that it was the Americans or the Europeans that were made for the sport but then seeing someone do it in our own backyard, it was like, 'but I can do that too!'"

Pillay has experienced a meteoric rise since his Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020 in 2021, where he was a member of the men’s 4x400m relay team that failed to make it past the heats. The 21-year-old bagged the world junior 400m gold medal the next year, raced to his first senior national title, and anchored South Africa to silver at the 2024 World Relays in the Bahamas.

He is leading South Africa’s one-lap revolution, becoming the second-fastest man in the country over the distance behind van Niekerk when he clocked 44.31 seconds earlier this year. The country currently has three sub-45 seconds runners in Pillay, van Niekerk, and Zakithi Nene. Waiting in the wings, Gardeo Isaacs, Adrian Swart, and Antonie Nortje have run times of 45.1s and faster.

“Now we have a gold mine. I want to say that it's a ripple effect…I feel like Wayde set off that igniting flame,” he added.

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*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

Wayde van Niekerk sparking the revolution

Van Niekerk set the revolution into motion when he became South Africa’s first world champion over a sprint distance with his maiden 400m title in Beijing in 2015. He followed that up by winning Olympic gold in a world record time of 43.03s at Rio 2016 and defended his world title in London in 2017.

Van Niekerk’s influence on the local athletics scene is now bearing fruit with talents such as Pillay and Nene emerging as world-class contenders in the 400m event which has also created a more competitive culture in the country.

“It takes a lot more to win the South African Championships now than before. I mean, before you could win with the 44 high, you could even secure first place with 45-mid whereas this year you needed a 44 to medal,” he said.

“It's healthy. Zach, myself, and Gardeo might be competing against each other tomorrow but we can warm up together. We can chat together after the race we can congratulate each other despite whoever won. I feel like that's very healthy going forward.”

Lythe Pillay racing with his hero

The ‘chemistry’, as Pillay calls it, has already resulted in a positive reaction on the track with the 4x400m relay team winning South Africa’s first medal at a major championships since 2017. Van Niekerk helped the quartet – which included Pillay, Isaacs, and Nene – earn an Olympic quota for Paris 2024 in the heats.

“If I think back to Bahamas, the first thing that comes to mind, it's the vibe in general, we were just so close, a community, it felt like a family, like a brotherhood,” Pillay said.

“The medal was just a very sweet cherry on top. For me that was like the most exciting event, I think partly because I got to race it with my hero. We enjoyed it. We had so much fun doing it. There wasn't this tension. There wasn't any beef between anyone like there might have been in the past.”

The world record holder was withdrawn from the final as a precaution with Nortje replacing him. Pillay again produced a spectacular anchor leg improving South Africa’s position from fifth to second in a time of 3:00.75. Neighbouring country Botswana took the spoils winning gold in a world lead of 2:59.11.

Pillay said convincing van Niekerk to join the relay team was quite the coup for the young crop who have been pestering the two-time world champion since Tokyo 2020.

“We still held our own and I think also for Wayde, it takes the pressure off because I think in the past we sort of gestured towards the idea of him being in a relay with us,” Pillay said.

“In Tokyo, he told Zach and me, 'when two of you guys go sub 45, then 100 percent I can't avoid it.' After the South African Championships this time (2024), he was the first person that came to us and said, 'Guys, this year we have to make it happen!"

“Wayde just glided through his leg. I mean, you could see he was having a ball. And then we qualified, that was our main job. Everything else is a bonus. And seeing we still came second, all of us we were just like, ‘It’s crazy.”

From qualifying to being Olympic medal contenders

The depth in the South African ranks could take some pressure off van Niekerk, who will be looking to reclaim his Olympic title in the 400m. Nene and Pillay are also set to compete in the individual one-lap event in Paris and will be hoping to feature in the final on 7 August. The first round of the 4x400m relay takes place two days later and should one or more survive the rounds, the rest of the team might be able to pick up the slack for a place in the final on 10 August.

“If Wayde needs to go through three rounds of the individual 400m, then we know we can put someone like Mat (Nortje) in the place of Wayde and he can come into the final,” Pillay said.

“At least we are very flexible. We are not limited. It's nice having that depth and also being able to contribute knowing that I trust my team, my team trusts me. And just having that overall chemistry.”

Pillay said should van Niekerk decide to hang up his spikes in the individual 400m event, they would make every effort to convince him to stick around for the relay.

“We also are trying to persuade Wayde even if he does retire from the 400 to still dabble in the relay for the next year or two if possible,” he said.

“If he still decides to train. Now that we went from qualifying to contending for a potential medal at the Olympics. And having that depth makes it easier.”

Navigating challenges like his mother

Pillay, who was raised by his single mother Beverly, has shown immense talent from a young age, breaking age-group records and winning titles at a national and continental level. When he first started showing promise, Beverly got her son hurdles to help work on his technique when he was still racing over the barriers.

“I remember my mom bought these three hurdles and I would pack them up on a back road of our complex and just run up and down,” Pillay recalled.

“Those days I would take a stopwatch in my hand and just run down the road and I tried to time myself. I couldn't make sense at the time. I didn't have a concept of time, but at least I could measure myself. So I pretty much would just run up and down there like a madman. That's pretty much where it all started.”

Besides chasing his Olympic dream, Pillay is an accounting student at the University of Johannesburg. Growing up, Beverly drilled into her son that he needed to be as disciplined in his academics as with his running.

“You are fast but you must be smart too. Keep on studying,” Pillay recalled his mother’s words.

“A lot of my mannerisms, the way I navigate challenges, the way I push myself, stems from my mom.”

And when he is not navigating the world of professional sport, or telling funny anecdotes about his family, Pillay enjoys caring for his two cats, Toutjie and Spokie. “I have a thing for felines. I don’t know why,” Pillay revealed.