van Niekerk has had enormous success with 78-year-old Botha and in addition to the world record of 43.03 from track eight in the Olympic final in Rio de Janeiro 2016, the South African took World Cup gold in 2015 and 2017.
However, the 28-year-old suffered a serious knee injury in October 2017 after participating in a show match in rugby and ran in 2018 and 2019 no races on the favorite distance 400 meters.
In the autumn he was back and ran a mediocre 45.58.
The collaboration began in 2012
The collaboration with "great-grandmother" began in 2012 when van Niekerk started at Kovsies University in Bloemfontein, where Anna "Ans" Botha has been an athletics coach for 25 years.
Now, however, van Niekerk is leaving South Africa and Botha to train with star coach Lance Brauman, who has the world record holder in the 200 meters, Noah Lyles, and the Olympic champion in the 400 meters, Shaune Miller-Uibo in his Florida-based stable.
- I have enjoyed training with Ans and her group, but to be able to break my world record, I need to train together with the world's best sprinters, van Niekerk says according to Reuters.
- I feel that a temporary move to the USA is the best thing to take advantage of my interests for the near future, says van Niekerk who will evaluate the plan after the Olympics in Tokyo this summer.