Wayde van Niekerk prize money
Wayde van Niekerk has been paid $110,000 by the Diamond League, which ranks 284th of the 3,683 athletes the series has paid. It came from fourteen paid finishes in the men's 400 m and men's 200 m, nine of them wins.
The Diamond League pays by finishing place and nothing else. A published card sets what first through eighth is worth, the same figure in every discipline at that meeting, and ninth pays nothing.
Every payment
Where he finished, and what the card paid for it
| MEETING | DISCIPLINE | PLACE | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme de Rabat 2025 | 200 m | 4th | $5,000 |
| Bislett Games 2023 | 400 m | 1st | $10,000 |
| Kamila Skolimowska Memorial 2023 | 400 m | 1st | $10,000 |
| London Athletics Meet 2023 | 400 m | 1st | $10,000 |
| Athletissima 2017 | 400 m | 1st | $10,000 |
| Herculis 2017 | 400 m | 1st | $10,000 |
| Golden Gala Pietro Mennea 2016 | 400 m | 1st | $10,000 |
| Herculis 2016 | 400 m | 1st | $10,000 |
| Meeting Areva 2015 | 400 m | 1st | $10,000 |
| Sainsburys Anniversary Games 2015 | 400 m | 1st | $10,000 |
| Weltklasse Zürich 2015 | 400 m | 3rd | $4,000 |
| Adidas Grand Prix 2014 | 400 m | 2nd | $6,000 |
| Athletissima 2014 | 200 m | 4th | $3,000 |
| Weltklasse Zürich 2014 | 400 m | 6th | $2,000 |
| All fourteen | two disciplines | - | $110,000 |
The fourteen paid figures add up because none of them contains another: a place is paid once, at that meeting, so $110,000 is fourteen separate amounts rather than a running total. It is 0.10% of the $113,397,000 the 224 meetings on this site paid out between them.
The World Championships
What Wayde van Niekerk did in Tokyo, 2025
Wayde van Niekerk went to the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo on a relay and ran no individual final there. He ran on the South Africa team that finished 3rd in the men's 4 × 400 metres relay, $20,000 to the federation rather than to any one of the four. The championships page holds all 49 events and the $8,498,000 they paid out.
Discipline by discipline
What each event has paid Wayde van Niekerk
| DISCIPLINE | STARTS | WINS | YEARS | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's 400 m | 12 | 9 | 2014 to 2023 | $102,000 |
| Men's 200 m | 2 | - | 2014 to 2025 | $8,000 |
The men's 400 m has paid Wayde van Niekerk $102,000 of the $110,000, which is 93% of everything the series has given him.
Season by season
2014 to 2025, in the order it was won
| SEASON | STARTS | WINS | BIGGEST | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 3 | - | Adidas Grand Prix | $11,000 |
| 2015 | 3 | 2 | Meeting Areva | $24,000 |
| 2016 | 2 | 2 | Golden Gala Pietro Mennea | $20,000 |
| 2017 | 2 | 2 | Athletissima | $20,000 |
| 2018 | - | - | - | - |
| 2019 | - | - | - | - |
| 2020 | - | - | - | - |
| 2021 | - | - | - | - |
| 2022 | - | - | - | - |
| 2023 | 3 | 3 | Bislett Games | $30,000 |
| 2024 | - | - | - | - |
| 2025 | 1 | - | Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme de Rabat | $5,000 |
season running total
2023 is the biggest of them, $30,000 from three starts. No Diamond League meeting paid Wayde van Niekerk in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024, so those columns stand at nothing. The dimmer column behind each season is the running total, which reaches $110,000.
Around Wayde van Niekerk on the money list
Ranks 264 to 304
| # | ATHLETE | DISCIPLINE | WINS | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 264 | Malte Mohr | Men's pole vault | 3 | $116,000 |
| 265 | Rumesh Tharanga | Men's javelin throw | 5 | $116,000 |
| 266 | Lorraine Ugen | Women's long jump | 2 | $115,000 |
| 267 | Woo Sang-hyeok | Men's high jump | 5 | $113,750 |
| 268 | Anna Cockrell | Women's 400 m hurdles | 4 | $113,500 |
| 269 | Godfrey Khotso Mokoena | two disciplines | 3 | $113,000 |
| 270 | Kelsey-Lee Barber | Women's javelin throw | 1 | $113,000 |
| 271 | Magnus Kirt | Men's javelin throw | 2 | $112,500 |
| 272 | Jesse Williams | Men's high jump | 3 | $112,083 |
| 273 | Angelica Moser | Women's pole vault | 2 | $111,875 |
| 274 | Darya Klishina | Women's long jump | 3 | $111,500 |
| 275 | Robbie Grabarz | Men's high jump | 2 | $111,458 |
| 276 | Ronnie Baker | Men's 100 m | 6 | $111,250 |
| 277 | Devon Allen | Men's 110 m hurdles | 4 | $111,000 |
| 278 | Erik Kynard | Men's high jump | 2 | $111,000 |
| 279 | Birhanu Balew | two disciplines | 3 | $110,750 |
| 280 | Eilidh Doyle | Women's 400 m hurdles | 2 | $110,500 |
| 281 | Nesta Carter | Men's 100 m | 2 | $110,500 |
| 282 | Jenn Suhr | Women's pole vault | 5 | $110,250 |
| 283 | Aleksandr Menkov | Men's long jump | 8 | $110,000 |
| 284 | Wayde van Niekerk | two disciplines | 9 | $110,000 |
| 285 | Angelo Taylor | three disciplines | 5 | $109,500 |
| 286 | Ruth Jebet | Women's 3000 m steeplechase | 5 | $109,000 |
| 287 | Ackera Nugent | Women's 100 m hurdles | 3 | $108,000 |
| 288 | Jenna Prandini | two disciplines | 1 | $107,500 |
| 289 | CJ Ujah | two disciplines | 1 | $106,500 |
| 290 | Jereem Richards | two disciplines | - | $106,500 |
| 291 | Monae' Nichols | Women's long jump | 2 | $106,500 |
| 292 | Kerron Stewart | two disciplines | 3 | $106,000 |
| 293 | Anna Ryzhykova | two disciplines | - | $105,500 |
| 294 | Cameron Myers | three disciplines | 2 | $105,500 |
| 295 | Melissa Jefferson-Wooden | two disciplines | 6 | $105,500 |
| 296 | Mohammed Aman | Men's 800 m | 7 | $105,500 |
| 297 | Paweł Wojciechowski | Men's pole vault | 2 | $105,500 |
| 298 | Steven Gardiner | two disciplines | 9 | $105,500 |
| 299 | Anita Márton | Women's shot put | - | $105,000 |
| 300 | Brittany Brown | two disciplines | 5 | $104,750 |
| 301 | Nia Ali | Women's 100 m hurdles | 1 | $104,750 |
| 302 | Rasmus Mägi | Men's 400 m hurdles | - | $104,250 |
| 303 | Almaz Ayana | three disciplines | 6 | $104,000 |
| 304 | Anavia Battle | two disciplines | 4 | $104,000 |
A slice of the same list the Diamond League hub ranks in full. Wayde van Niekerk is 284th of the 3,683 athletes the 224 meetings on this site paid, on $110,000.
Who else was in the money
The rest of the eight, at the meetings that paid Wayde van Niekerk most
Bislett Games 2023 paid $10,000 for 1st in the 400 m, one of eight in the field. Also paid that afternoon: Muzala Samukonga, Vernon Norwood, Håvard Bentdal Ingvaldsen, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Bayapo Ndori and Zakithi Nene.
Kamila Skolimowska Memorial 2023 paid $10,000 for 1st in the 400 m, one of eight in the field. Also paid that afternoon: Bayapo Ndori, Alison dos Santos, Zakithi Nene, Ryan Willie, Bryce Deadmon and Vernon Norwood.
London Athletics Meet 2023 paid $10,000 for 1st in the 400 m, one of eight in the field. Also paid that afternoon: Bryce Deadmon, Vernon Norwood, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Leungo Scotch, Ryan Willie and Liemarvin Bonevacia.
Frequently asked questions
How much Diamond League prize money has Wayde van Niekerk won?
$110,000, which ranks 284th of the 3,683 athletes the series has paid across the 224 meetings on this site. It came from fourteen paid finishes between 2014 and 2025.
What is Wayde van Niekerk's biggest Diamond League payday?
$10,000, for finishing 1st in the 400 m at the 2023 Bislett Games. The Diamond League pays by place rather than by performance, so that figure is what the card in force that season paid for 1st and would have paid anybody who finished there.
How does the Diamond League decide what Wayde van Niekerk gets paid?
Entirely by where he finishes. The series publishes one rate card a season and applies it to every discipline at every meeting, so a win is worth the same in the men's 400 m as it is in the shot put on the same afternoon. Eight places are paid and ninth pays nothing. There is no bonus for a record and no share of a gate.
How many Diamond League meetings has Wayde van Niekerk won?
Nine of fourteen, worth $90,000 between them. He has not been paid at a Diamond League final.
Is this everything Wayde van Niekerk earns from athletics?
No. This is the Diamond League, which is one series of 224 meetings. It holds no championship prize money, no national federation payment, no appearance fee and no sponsorship. What it does hold is every dollar the series itself paid him, priced off the card it published.
Where to next
The rest of the Diamond League money
Diamond League prize money ranks all 3,683 athletes across the $113,397,000 the 224 meetings on this site paid out. One place above Wayde van Niekerk is Aleksandr Menkov on $110,000, and one below Angelo Taylor on $109,500. Wayde van Niekerk is one of 54 South Africa athletes athletics has paid, and South Africa athletics prize money adds them up to $2,356,250 across all six competitions. For the event itself, see men's 400 m prize money and men's 200 m prize money. The series has paid out in 21 men's disciplines and Wayde van Niekerk has been paid in two of them. The biggest of the rest are men's 100 m, men's pole vault and men's 800 m. Every meeting he has raced is linked in the table at the top of this page, and Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme de Rabat has its own page across every edition of it. Away from the series, World Championships prize money is Tokyo 2025, $8,498,000 paid eight places deep in every event, and the full final is on the men's 4 × 400 metres relay page.