place on the South African Olympic team. Van Zyl came fifth in the 400 m hurdles final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and also ran as part of the national relay team. His clocking of 48.22 seconds at the Athens Grand Prix Tsiklitiria made him the fourth fastest in the event that year. He was eliminated in the semi-finals at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, despite entering the competition with the fastest time of the year. He ended the year on a positive note with a silver medal behind Kerron Clement (the new world champion) at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final. Van Zyl set the South African record of 47.66 seconds at an athletics meeting in Pretoria on 25 February 2011, improving upon Llewellyn Herbert's former mark. He made a large improvement upon his 400 m sprint best a month later, taking almost a second off his former best with a run of 44.86 sec at a Yellow Pages Series meeting. Van Zyl won a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics but again he entered the competition with not only the fastest but the 4 fastest times of the year so perhaps a disappointing result. He later won a silver with the South African team in the 4x400m relay. Affiliations TuksSport – University of Pretoria, South Africa Achievements Personal bests 400 metres – 44.86 s (2011) 400 metres hurdles – 47.66 s (2011) 200 metres hurdles-22.10(1.8 m/s)WR References External links Focus on Athletes article from IAAF 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Bloemfontein University of Pretoria alumni South African male hurdlers Olympic athletes of South Africa Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games silver medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for South Africa African Games gold medalists for South Africa African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 All-Africa Games Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent