There can be no better way to describe the performance by Akani Simbine (Tuks/HPC) in Budapest on Monday night than with the words ‘absolutely amazing’.

He first shattered the South African 100m record by winning in a time of 9.89s and a few hours later he won the 200m in a personal best time of 20.16s.

It is the second time this season that Simbine set a new South African record over 100 metres. In March he ran 9.96s at Pilditch.

With his latest record performance Simbine proved that he could be a definite medal contender at the Olympics in Rio. His time of 9.89s is the fifth fastest so far this season.

Justin Gatlin (USA 9.80s), Trayvon Bromell (USA – 9.84s), Jimmy Vicaut (France – 9.86s) and Usain Bolt (Jamaica – 9.88s) are the only athletes so far who have run faster times.

Asafa Powell (Jamaica), a former world record holder, was second on Monday night in a time of 9.92s and Michael Rodgers (USA) third in 10.12s.

Isiah Young (USA) finished second in the 200m in 20.24s and Stefanos Tsakonas (Greece) third in 20.34s.

Werner Prinsloo, who coaches Simbine, described his performances in Budapest as ‘the cherry on top’.

“At the moment I have no words to describe how I feel as coach. I never doubted that Akani is capable of running faster times, but it is simply amazing that all our hard work has now started to pay dividends.”

Prinsloo predicted last month already that it was just a question of time before Simbine will start running fast times.

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