Simbine and Prinsloo celebrates 10 years of challenging the stopwatch
After ten years as a team, South Africa's best sprinter and its coach look forward to many more seasons of highlights.
Ten years can feel like a very long time, but then again, it could also turn out to be an exciting life journey.
For South Africa’s foremost sprinter Akani Simbine and his coach Werner Prinsloo it is the latter. This week they celebrate being together as an athlete and coach for ten years. During this time the Tuks based duo have achieved a whole list of firsts in South African athletics.
Simbine is the first South African male sprinter to win gold in the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games. He is also the first to compete in an Olympic100m-final as well as a World Championship final. And he is the first local sprinter to dip under ten seconds in the 100 metres and 20 seconds in the 200m on the same day.
Then he is also the only South African to run two sub ten seconds races on the same day. And so the list continues.
From day one, the Tuks pairing shared the same passion. That is to beat the stopwatch. To be more precise, for them, it all about mere seconds, the less, the better. Their quest is far from over. The one thing remaining to tick on their “bucket list” is an Olympic medal and this means even faster times.
It all started with an advert in the newspapers ten years ago. Prinsloo remembers placing an article in the local Kempton Park newspaper about the club he was coaching at. As luck would have it, Simbine’s dad read it. The school principal at Edenglen High School recommended that he pursued his athletics career which at the time meant Simbine was looking a coach.
The sprinter still remembers his first session with Prinsloo calling the shots.
“Coach made me do ‘back to backs’. I’ll never forget it. It was one of the worst sessions I ever had at that point in my life,” said Simbine.
As to why he decided to stick it out Simbine said his coach seemed to be a quiet but a cool guy.
“More importantly, I wanted to prove to him that he’s not wasting his time with me,” Simbine explained.
After ten years of so many achievements, what would be their highlights?
“Honestly, every year has its own highlight. I can’t pinpoint one specific moment. I’d have to write a whole 10-page spread going through everything. Each race holds special memories. Even on a bad day, I can pick up something good. Standing on the line, running fast chasing the perfect race is truly a thrill. It is insane to think you have less than 10 seconds to get across the finish line, the Adidas-Tuks athlete explained,” said the South African superstar.
Prinsloo honestly believes that Simbine can medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
“But it will be a mistake to be obsessed about medalling. At this stage, my only focus is to build a stronger, faster ‘engine’ and make sure it is in perfect condition. Akani must have no doubt in his mind that he is ready,” he concluded.
Last year’s fourth-place finish during the Doha World Championships might still turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
“Man, being so close to the medal and not getting it are unfortunate, but it has motivated as well as fuelled me to be more clinical and perfect in my racing. Having Werner as my coach is a definite confidence booster as he is a perfectionist who is always looking for ways to gain those extra hundredth hundreds of a second,” Simbine said.
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