Van Niekerk defends men's 400m world title

South Africa's Wayde Van Niekerk unsurprisingly defended his 400m title at the IAAF World Championships here.

The current world record holder and Olympic gold medalist finished the race with a comfortable 43.98 seconds on Tuesday night, reports Xinhua news agency.

"It is amazing to win the world title. I hope the fans enjoyed that," the South African said.

Steven Gardiner of Bahamas finished runner-up at 44.41 while Abdalelah Haroun of Qatar ranked third with seven hundredths of a second adrift.

"The first thing that I wanted to do was to reach the final, but then I had to fight for a medal," Haroun pointed out.

"I knew it was a big chance for me, and I'm very happy to have taken the opportunity."