Next year, consistency and not medals will be the main focus when South Africa’s fastest man, Akani Simbine, lines up to race the 100 metres.

Some might ask why. The Tuks based sprinter has, after all, a Commonwealth Games title to defend next year in Birmingham, while there is also the World Championships in the USA.

But Werner Prinsloo, who coaches Simbine, has a good reason for wanting to forget about medals. It has all to do with the 100m-final at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The Tuks based sprinter finished fourth, missing out by 0.04s on medalling.

“Next year, I want Akani to be consistent when he races. This year he has not been. He would run a good race and then be average the next time. If Akani races 12 times, I want him to clock 9.90s something at least nine times. Ideally, four times should be faster than 9.90s. If he gets to do so, the results will take care of themselves,” Prinsloo explained.

Simbine set a new personal best running 9.84s in Hungary about three weeks before he had to race at the Olympics, and Prinsloo said he thought they were on track to win a medal. But then the Olympic final happened. It was the result they did not expect and he admits they were devastated.

“Afterwards, I could not help but wonder whether it was all worth it. The 9.84s race did not matter anymore. All I could think about was that we had failed. From the start of the season, there was only one goal. It was to medal in Tokyo. There comes a time when you got to ask yourself what more must we do to win a medal at the Olympic Games. How hard and long must Akani train,” the coach asked.

According to Prinsloo, both of them went through a rollercoaster of emotions.

“At first, Akani and I were angry with ourselves and everyone around us. Now we are at a stage where we got to accept what had happened. There is nothing we can change. We need to learn from what happened and try and take some positives from the Tokyo Olympics,” he remarked.

Prinsloo is worried that what happened during the 100-metre semi-finals might have had a psychological impact on Simbine.

“To run 9.90s in the semi-final and only finish fourth is never good. Three athletes dipped under 9.85s. It certainly was one of the fastest ever semi-final races at an Olympic Games,” he commented.

According to Prinsloo he could see that Simbine was under pressure on the day of the final. The thinking was that if it took 9.90s to qualify for the final, what it would take to win.

“That uncertainty led to Akani not being at his best. Afterwards, he lost all motivation. He was ‘switched off’ for the rest of his races. He just went through the motions. That is why another challenge for next year is going to be to make sure he is mentally a bit tougher,” Prinsloo concluded.

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