Quick times elude SA sprinters in France

SPRINT sensation Akani Simbine was the standout performer out of a half-dozen South African athletes at the Meeting Elite de Montreuil in France on Tuesday evening.

The South African 100-metre record holder settled into the blocks along with Commonwealth Games silver medallist Henricho Bruintjies.

Simbine continued his search for his first sub-10 race for 2018, finishing second in a time of 10.04 seconds, with Bruintjies finishing fourth with 10.14

Chinese sprinter Xie Zhenye won the race in a new national record of 9.97, shaving 0.02 off the previous mark.

Simbine will take some confidence from the race, again flirting with the 10-second barrier after two identical 10.13 times in Rome and Ostrava respectively.

Former Commonwealth Games champion Cornel Fredericks was the only other South African to make it onto the podium on the night. He finished second in the men’s 400m hurdles.

Fredericks continues his battle to dip below 49 seconds over the barriers – he clocked 49.56 behind the first-placed Frenchman Ludvy Vaillant (48.95).

South African women’s 100m record-holder Carina Horn narrowly missed out on spot on the podium in her specialist sprint.

Struggling to rekindle the form that saw her become the first South African to dip below 11 seconds, Horn finished fourth on Tuesday in a time of 11.23.

In-form Ivorian Marie Josée Ta Lou won the short sprint in a time of 10.95, with Carolle Zahi of France clinching silver in 11.16.

National record-holder Antonio Alkana finished fourth in the 110m hurdles in a time of 13.52, with Russian Surgey posting the first sub-13-second performance of the year to win in 12.99.

Horizontal jumps legend Khotso Mokoena finished sixth in the triple-jump event with a distance of 16.37m.