He has always intimated he would consider doing the double but Wayde van Niekerk confirmed he had requested the IAAF for a programme change to accommodate him in his pursuit of 200m and 400m glory.
Speaking to EWN, Van Niekerk revealed that he would be racing both sprint distances even if the IAAF did not approve his request.
“I’m definitely doing the 200m and 400m, I’ve set it in my heart already and I’ve decided that I’m doing the ‘two’ and ‘four’,” Van Niekerk said.
“It doesn’t matter how the programme turns out, I’m going to do that challenge and see what happens.
“I really feel like I’ve achieved so much in the 400m and I want to bring an extra aspect into my athletics journey and I feel like this year I want to try the 200m and 400m. So whether the programme changes or not, I want to give it a go.”
The 400m world record-holder will be going into the IAAF World Championships as the defending champion in the one-lap sprint.
Adding the 200m to his repertoire puts him on a collision course with Jamaican sprinting legend Usain Bolt, who is set to retire after the global showpiece.
Van Niekerk is considered the heir apparent to Bolt’s sprinting throne demonstrating his insane ability over the 100m, 200m, and 400m.
Clocking 9.98 seconds early in 2016, Van Niekerk became the became the first man to dip below under 10 seconds in the 100m, 20 seconds in the 200m, and 44 seconds in the one-lap sprint.
Two years ago Van Niekerk made his breakthrough in international athletics when he became the first African to dip below 44 seconds.
Days after setting the South African 400m record he also became the first South African to post a sub-20 second time in the half-lap sprint in a new national record of 19.94s.
At last year’s Rio Olympic Games Van Niekerk shattered iconic American sprinter Michael Johnson’s previous record from 1999 by 0.15 seconds when he crossed the line in 43.03 seconds.
Johnson became the first man to win the 200-400m double at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg before repeating that feat at the 1996 Atlanta Games.