Cometh the hour, cometh the men was the order of the day for South African athletes as they delivered top results in the Wanda Diamond League.

In pouring rain, the Stockholm leg of the Wanda Diamond League began with a last-minute withdrawal by 400m world record holder Wayne van Niekerk due to a suspected flu virus.

But our second man in the 400m Zakithi Nene stepped up to win his first Diamond League with a time of 45.30 seconds.

The time was at least one second slower than expected at this point with the world champs in Budapest, Hungary just a few weeks away (19-27 August 2023).

The 25-year-old Nene from Ladysmith has a personal best of 44.74 seconds recorded last year in Zurich.

South Africa's best moment on the track on Sunday came from the men's 100m race where Mr Consistent, Akani Simbine claimed victory.

The time of 10.03 seconds was slow for the man who has recorded 9.84 sec but continues to impress with a good response out of the blocks and lightning-fast first 50m.

Simbine remains one of SA's best hopes for a podium finish at the world champs next month.

Most encouraging perhaps for SA athletics are the results delivered by the athletes halfway through the season and victories in tough conditions.

The Swedish capital of Stockholm hosted the seventh meeting of this year's Diamond League calendar with a new track at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium.

The faster Conipur Vmax track is expected to attract more track athletes to the meeting with a higher possibility of setting new world records on the track.

Unfortunately, the conditions on Sunday were not good and were highlighted by a two-hour delay in the pole vault competition.