South African Wayde van Niekerk blasts to world 400m title

Beijing: South African Wayde van Niekerk scorched to a remarkable victory in the men`s 400m at the world championships in Beijing on Wednesday.

Van Niekerk became South Africa`s first world sprint champion as he stormed around the one-lap race in 43.48 seconds, becoming the fourth fastest athlete in the event and the quickest non-American.

A loaded field saw defending champion Lawshawn Merritt, who also won the world title in Berlin in 2009, timed a personal best of 43.65sec for silver, while Grenada`s Olympic champion Kirani James claimed bronze in a season`s best of 43.78sec.