Move over Usain – there’s a new kid in town.

Well, not quite. Usain Bolt ran his own personal best 400-metres in 45.28 seconds back in 2007 but we all know he’s a 100-metre and 200-metre God. Holding world records for both, it’s hard to see his record being beaten for quite some time.

But in the slightly longer discipline, he is just shy of the summit. It’s South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk holds the bragging rights following his breath-taking 400-metre final win at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he bettered Michael Johnson’s 1999 time by 0.15 seconds.

It was 19-years in the making and even Johnson at the time said, “It was a massacre.”

You could see in elation at winning the gold and he look comfortable and easy in his strides. Taking a trip to Jamaica to work with Usain Bolt and his coach, Glen Mills certainly helped but many were left wondering whether this was his lot or if he would continue on in a similar vein.

Well it's safe to say athletics is in pretty good hands after Bolt retires this year. Van Niekerk has been sensational.

Interesting fact: van Niekerk is the only man to have won the Olympic 400-metres in lane eight, which is considered one of the hardest because of the staggered start.

VAN NIEKERK IS AT IT AGAIN

Despite being the first athlete to run 100-metres in under 10 seconds, 200-metres in under 20 seconds and 400-metres in under 44 seconds, Wayde van Niekerk is still looking to break new records.

His latest 400-metre win came at the 2017 Diamond League meeting in Lusanne on Thursday, where he took another long standing record from Michael Johnson by beating the American's 43.66 time set at the same meeting in 1996 by four-hundredths of a second.

But a few people have commented on the manner in which Van Niekerk won. As he rounded the final turn, he was second and going through the motions. But in the final 100-metres, he accelerated as expected and gave himself the extra length to claim the race. 

However, it didn’t go unnoticed that in the final five metres, he slowed up to a jog, confident the race had been won. Possibly even shades of Bolt from a few years ago - see the video below.

It didn’t really affect his time in beating Johnson’s record by 0.4 of a second but if he’d kept running full bloodedly for the final few metres, he could’ve put the record out of reach of future ambitious runners like himself.

Nonetheless, it was another controlled victory by the South African and he’ll be confident of taking that form to London for the world championships in August.