Simbine on a quest to become the first SA sprinter to medal in 100m at Worlds
Akani Simbine looks ready to win South Africa's very first medal in the 100m at a world championship.
Wayde van Niekerk has done it in the 400m, and Anaso Jobodwana has done it in the 200m now the challenge is for Akani Simbine to complete South Africa’s medal “collection” at the World Championships sprints.
To do so, Simbine from Tuks/HPC has to win a medal in the 100m at the IAAF Championships in London. It is only in the 100m sprint in which no South African athlete has ever won a medal.
Van Niekerk won a gold medal in the 400m at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and Jobodwana a bronze medal in the 200m’s at the same championships.
The Pretoria athlete’s progress as a 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.
The statistics favour Simbine’s chance of making South African sprinting history. He has eight legal sub-10-second performances to his name this year, and stand third on the world list. Only Christian Coleman (USA) with 9.82s and Yohan Blake (Jamaica) with 9.90s has so far run faster times.
Simbine and his coach, Werner Prinsloo, fully realise that no good result has ever come about by speculating or just talking about it. Simbine has got to go out on the track and do it for it to be official.
There can be no arguing that the Tuks/HPC-athlete has matured over the last two years. He ascribed it to his Olympic participation last year and getting to compete in Diamond League Meetings regularly.
“I think the experience I gained racing at the Olympic Games and the Diamond League Meetings is starting to pay dividends. It certainly helped to be able to race against the top athletes frequently as it helped me learn to control my emotions when I’m competing and also regroup,” said Simbine just before the team departed for London.
A major highlight was his first international race of the season in Doha where he outsprinted Justin Gatlin (USA), silver medallist at last year’s Olympic Games as well as Asafa Powell (Jamaica), a former world record holder, and Andre de Grasse (Canada) bronze medallist at the 2016 Games.
From a South African athletics perspective, it was a historic victory as no other local sprinter ever managed to win the 100 metres at a Diamond League Meeting.
Prinsloo is of the opinion that the turnabout in Simbin’s sprint career came about once he had mastered the art of a fast start.
“I realised 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 concluded.
The 100m semi-finals are Saturday night at 20:05 and the final at 22:45.
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