High-flying Zakithi Nene faces tough battle to become 400m king of Rome
Zakithi Nene, the fastest 400m runner in the world so far this year, lines up at the Rome Diamond League meet on Friday night against a field that boasts a combined 10 Olympic medals and 17 world championship gongs.
Nene, the anchor of South Africa's golden 4x400m outfit at World Relays in China a month ago, this past weekend raced to victory in Nairobi in 43.76sec, a time that placed him atop the world list.
This year the 27-year-old has burst out of his role as a solid member of the national relay squad and entrenched himself as a serious individual medal contender at the world championships in Tokyo in September.
The Durban-based star is the form athlete going into Rome, looking to score the second Diamond League victory of his career against pedigreed competitors, topped by Olympic champion Quincy Hall of the US.
Nene beat Hall for the first time at the Rabat Diamond League last month in a race he led from the start, only to tire on the home straight and get overhauled by American Jacory Patterson, the only other sub-44 athlete this year.
But there are three athletes in the race who Nene has never beaten, starting with former Olympic and world champion Kirani James of Grenada.
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