Simbine ready to turn SA’s sprint revolution into silverware
Destiny awaits Akani Simbine in Tokyo today as he looks to convert SA’s long-rumbling sprint revolution into Olympic 100m silverware.
He and compatriots Gift Leotlela and Shaun Maswanganyi gave SA a full-house of qualifiers for today’s semifinals, advancing from the heats yesterday.
Simbine is the one with the pedigree to land the greatest prize in world sprinting.
For five years he has circled the podiums of glory on the world’s largest stages, without breaking into the top three.
He was fifth at Rio 2016, fifth at the 2017 world championships in London, fifth at the 2018 Diamond League final and fourth at the 2019 world championships in Doha.
The boy is ready to become a man. Today is the moment the 27-year-old has dreamed of since he embarked on his arduous journey of speed with his coach, Werner Prinsloo, more than a decade ago.
They’re two East Rand boytjies taking on the world in the Far East.
Along the way they’ve lifted the Commonwealth Games, African and World Student Games crowns. Those are nice-to-have trophies, but now they must dig deep to mine the most precious metals their sport has to offer.
An impossible task? Hardly. Simbine has beaten every one of his main rivals lining up in the semifinals today. He shot down Ronnie Baker of the US in the final of the 2015 Universiade; he annihilated Jamaican Yohan Blake at Gold Coast 2018; and he outsprinted Canadian Andre De Grasse and the other two Americans in the field, Trayvon Bromell and Fred Kerley, as well as European indoor 60m champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs in Monaco less than a month ago.
With his 9.84sec African record last month, Simbine is the second-fastest runner in the world this year, behind Bromell, who has so far failed to repeat his 9.77 form outside the US. He didn’t look threatening yesterday either, qualifying as a fastest loser.
Simbine seems poised to become the first home-grown sprinter to make an Olympic podium since SA became a union in 1910.
He would be only the second to medal since the unheralded Durbanite Reggie Walker stunned the world for gold at London 1908. But Simbine will need to go a lot faster than his effort yesterday, a pedestrian 10.08sec that was the slowest winning time of the seven heats.
He was upbeat afterwards, however, saying he didn’t push too hard. “I’m conserving as much energy as I can for tomorrow, because tomorrow’s more important, and I’m happy that I’m through. I don’t want to burn too much energy in the first round and then have that sit in my legs for tomorrow.
Simbine will run in the third of the three semifinals, scheduled for 12.31pm (SA time), against Baker and Jacobs.
Leotlela, the 2016 Olympian who has struggled with injury since, looked comfortable as he cruised to win his heat in 10.04sec. He is in the first semifinal at 12.15pm.
US-based student Maswanganyi, who is coached by US legend Carl Lewis, worked hard to end his heat in third in 10.12. He lines up in the second semifinal at 12.23pm.
Based on yesterday’s heats, De Grasse looked the most dangerous, cruising to a season’s best of 9.91.
The final is scheduled for 2.50pm today. While the sprinters gave SA something to smile about yesterday, the country lost another medal contender as long-jumper Ruswahl Samaai failed to advance beyond the qualifying round. The 2017 world championship bronze medallist had a best of 7.74m.
Halfway through the showpiece Team SA has three medals — a gold and two silvers — but of the 13 hopefuls coming in, eight have fallen short of the podium.
Defending 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk was set to roll into action this morning, and the 4x100m relay team has yet to launch into action.
But today belongs to Simbine. Hopefully.
I’m conserving as much energy as I can for tomorrow Akani Simbine
SA Olympic sprint hope