Simbine beat international stars in the 100m
Last Friday Akani Simbine became the first South African in athletics history to win a 100m race at a Diamond League event.
Being one of the trailblazers of South African athletics seems to come naturally to Akani Simbine.
This past weekend when the Tuks-athlete outsprinted Justin Gatlin to win the 100 metres at the Diamond League Meeting in Doha it was the third time this season that he has set a first in South African athletics. No other local sprinter has yet been able to win the short sprint at a Diamond League Meeting. His winning time was 9,99s.
Simbine is also the first local sprinter to run two sub ten seconds 100m races on the same day and the first to run a sub ten second 100m race and sub 20 seconds in the 200 metres on the same day.
Judging by Simbine’s performances so far it might not be farfetched to predict that he is capable of winning a medal at the World Championships in London.
The Tuks-athlete’s progress as sprinter over the last six years is remarkable. In 2012 he set a new South African junior record running 10.19s. Except for 2013 he has managed to improve his time each year. In 2014 his best time was 10.02s, in 2015 he ran 9.97s and last year he ran 9.89s. His best time so far this season is 9.92s.
Simbine’s coach, Werner Prinsloo views 2012 as his breakthrough year.
“When Akani ran that 10.19s it changed my life as a coach. It was not only the time he ran but more importantly the build-up to the race. I realized that Akani was not powerful enough as a sprinter so I specifically changed his program to include more strength training. We were doing so for about three months before he set a new national junior record. Running 10.19s was a massive improvement as his previous best of about 10.49s.
“The next milestone for Akani was in 2013 when he started competing in Europe. Up to then I was the one who taught him everything he knew about sprinting. Once he started racing internationally he became a student of sprint of sprinting and started to learn from the other athletes.
“I always say that training is training, for an athlete to be successful he needs to learn how to run. That started happening for Akani in 2013. Sprinting will never just be about running as fast as you can when the starter’s gun goes,” said Prinsloo.
Prinsloo considers last year as the third breakthrough moment in Simbine becoming a world class sprinter.
“We realized that we needed to work on Akani’s start as internationally that was where he was losing races. His top speed was never a problem. I consider it to be on par with the likes of Asafa Powell but he lost out big time over the first 20 metres. Akani’s start is now one of the best. He proved it at last year’s Olympic final in Rio where his reaction time out of the blocks was the fastest. If Akani has a good start there are very few sprinters who will be able to beat him,” Prinsloo explained their progress.
Prinsloo said that going forward it will all be about marginal gains for the local superstar.
“For him to become a consistent 9.90s sprinter we will have to work on small specific details. The challenge for me as a coach will be good planning. Because Akani trains and races at such a high intensity it is important to make sure that he takes proper breaks from time to time in order for his body to recover.”
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