How to watch Wayde van Niekerk live at the 2024 South Africa Championships
Wayde van Niekerk begins his sprinting season this Friday, 19 April at the Athletics South Africa Senior Track and Field Championships in Pietermaritzburg.
The 400m world record holder will compete in the men's 200m at the Msunduzi Athletics Stadium based in the second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
The versatile sprinter will run the heats on Friday. The semi-finals and finals take place on Saturday (20 April).
Van Niekerk had a few days of training in Cape Town over the past weeks before the Rio 2016 gold medallist went back to Florida, USA, where he trains with his coach Lance Brauman.
It’s the latest step in van Niekerk's strategy to reclaim his 400m title at the Olympics Games Paris 2024, as his manager Peet van Zyl told Independent Newspapers.
“It was the coach’s decision [to run the 200m at the SA championships]. He didn’t run in a 200m last year – everything last year was about just getting the man on the go again and in shape again,” said van Zyl of the three-time world medallist, whose personal best in the 200m is 19:84 seconds from 2017.
“The goal for Paris is the 400m, so it is all part of the plan for him to run the 200m at the SAs, and then after that he will go directly back to America. We will keep him there for a reasonable time until we let him race in Europe.”
“We went back and assessed the season, and the coach, Wayde and myself chatted, and the coach worked out a new strategy for the new year – new plans that he feels now that he has worked more than a year with Wayde, and how he can get the best out of Wayde for Paris."
Van Niekerk had a great start to the season last year, winning three Diamond League meets, but could only manage seventh in the 400m final at the World Championships in Budapest.
He began his Olympic year on 30 March, racing as part of a 4x400m team at the Florida Relays, and remains driven by the desire to be at his best again.
“I want to be back on the podium and get back to winning gold medals and challenging world records,” he told Olympics.com last year.
Find out how you can watch the the South African superstar live in action below.
Schedule for the men’s 200m at the 2024 South African Championships in Pietermaritzburg
Friday, 19 April
- 10:00am - 200m heats
Saturday, 20 April
- 10:15am - 200m semi-final
- 16:00 - 200m final
How to watch Wayde Van Niekerk compete in the 200m at the 2024 South African Championships
The South Africa Senior National Championships will be shown live in South Africa and rest of Africa on SuperSport at selected times starting 18 April to 21 April.
Broadcast details for Saturday, 20 April
14:15 -17:15
You can find the fulll broadcast details here.