Never before has any athlete in the world been able to break the Dream Race times in all three sprint events of the 100m, 200m and 400m. History has been made.
On Saturday 12 march 2016 our very own 400m World Champion Wayde van Niekerk set a new benchmark for athletes across the world when he became the first man in history to run faster than 10 seconds for 100 metres, 20 seconds for 200 metres and 44 seconds for 400 metres.
Surprising himself and the small crowd in attendance, the 23 year old Wayde having not competed in the 100m sprint since his junior days in 2011, smashed his previous personal best of 10.45 at the Free State Championships in Bloemfontein, winning in a time of 9.98.
The 10 second barrier over 100m has in fact been broken twice this week. Besides Wayde's phenomenal race, Akani Simbine, who jointly held the SA record with Henricho Bruintjies, has set a new national record of 9.96 in Pretoria on Tuesday.
In a previous bruinou.com article we shared in Wayde's success when he became the 400 World Champion at the Beijing IAAF World Championships. and once again the young man originally from Kraaifontein on the Northern outskirts of the Cape Flats has given us reason to celebrate.
Well-known for her sparkling social commentary, Professional Sports Manager and Head of PR & Media Liaison for Varsity Sports, Marisa Calvert shared her elation over Wayde's achievement by posting his latest World Ranking which saw him instantaneously move up from 21st to 5th.
"Legendary!!!!" she exclaimed.
With his Twitter and Instagram handle being @Waydedreamer, and now being the first man ever to hold the Dream Race times over three sprint distances, it is no surprise that his reaction would be one of describing a dream come true.
Posting a video of the race to his Instagram page, his caption says it all.
"Wow!!! Truly grateful and humbled by the opportunity and talents the Lord has blessed me with Finally reaching my childhood dream of sub 10.
400m - 43.48
200m - 19.94
100m - 9.98
Truly so blessed thank you to everyone supporting me with in my career. And all that's contributed to where I am today!!!"