South Africa’s one-lap star Zakithi Nene stormed to a world leading time this year of 43.76 seconds, smashing his personal best, in winning the 400m at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on Saturday afternoon.
The sprint sensation finally delivered on the threat to run a sub-44-second time in an individual race, having already done so in the 4X400m relay earlier this year.
He also quickly put behind him last week’s Rabat Diamond League disappointment, when he was pipped to the line by American Jacory Patterson. Before Saturday’s race, the American had also held the world-leading time this year.
There would be no close finish this time as Nene flew out of the blocks in typical fashion and only grew stronger as the race wore on. He finished more than a second ahead of Nigeria’s Africa Games champion Chidi Okezie (44.98), while local runner Zablon Ekwam finished in third (45.01).
Nene’s coach, Victor Vaz, had predicted a “comfortable win” for his charge in the build-up to the race that is part of the World Athletics Continental tour. Yet even he could not not have imagined such an emphatic response to last weekend’s disappointment.
He said he had spoken to Nene after his record run.
“He took me by surprise. I was never expecting it. He phoned me after and said ‘did you time the race?’ And I said ‘why would I time the race? He said ‘because it didn’t feel like a 43’,” Vaz said from his Durban base.
“He looked very good, he didn’t look exhausted at the end. It bodes very well for the World Championships. The challenge is to hold him steady until September.”
Next up for Nene is next weekend’s Rome Diamond League meeting.
