Van Zyl facing world-class line-up in Stockholm

Stockholm - National 400m hurdles record holder LJ van Zyl will warm up for next week's CAA 20th African Senior Championships in Durban when he turns out as the only South African representative at the eighth leg of the IAAF Diamond League series in Stockholm, Sweden on Thursday night.

In fine form this year, after clocking 48.67 in Ostrava last month to settle in a tie for second place in the 2016 global rankings, the former World Championships bronze medallist will line up as one of the favourites against a quality field.

He faces the likes of Kenyan world champion Nicholas Bett, the American trio of Kerron Clement, Bershawn Jackson and Michael Tinsley, and Olympic bronze medallist Javier Culson of Puerto Rico.

Six of the eight men in the line-up have run faster than 48 seconds in their careers.

The race is scheduled to start at 8.03pm (SA time).

This will be Van Zyl's last competitive outing before he leads the SA Men's 400 Hurdles team, also including Cornel Fredericks and Lindsay Hanekom, at the continental championships on 22-26 June at Kings Park Athletics Stadium.