Wayde van Niekerk will make his first bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics this season when he competes in the 400m in Madrid on Saturday night‚ his agent Peet van Zyl said.

Wayde van Niekerk will make his first bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics this season when he competes in the 400m in Madrid on Saturday night‚ his agent Peet van Zyl said.

Van Niekerk jetted into his training camp in Gemona‚ Italy‚ from the US on Tuesday morning. “His training has been going well‚” Van Zyl said.

Van Niekerk‚ who set the 43.03sec world record winning the Olympic crown at Rio 2016‚ needs to run 44.90 to automatically book his ticket to Japan.

He hasn’t run that fast since injuring his right knee in a game of touch rugby in late 2017.

Van Niekerk left his long-time coach Ans Botha to move to the US‚ but in his only race there last month he pulled up while running the 200m in Boston when he experienced a tightness in his hip.

He was reportedly back in full training after a week or so.

But on Saturday he will get to show what sort of form he is in.

He is also set to run in Lucerne‚ Switzerland‚ on June 29‚ the last day of the qualifying window for Tokyo‚ although the programme for that meet doesn’t include a men’s 400m race.

Sprinter Akani Simbine was also scheduled to race in Switzerland‚ Van Zyl added.​