The fastest man ever over 400 metres is running again. This is the story of how he broke the world record.Seven years ago in Rio there was a strange, intimate moment between a champion and an athlete in the act of becoming a champion. The occasion was the men’s 400 metres final at the Rio Olympics. South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk, 24, was running in lane eight principally against the USA’s LaShawn Merritt and Grenada’s Kirani James, both Olympic gold medallists.In the event – if you’ll excuse the pun – neither Merritt’s nor James’ presence in Rio made any difference to Van Niekerk, who powered to gold and smashed the world record in the process. On hand to describe it all was Michael Johnson, the man who had held the 400 metres record for 17 years. This is the story of Johnson and Van Niekerk, and what happened to Van Niekerk afterwards and caused him to wander in the wilderness. Get full written episodes of the show a day early on Substack.Check out The Luke Alfred Show on: Facebook YouTube