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Now that the athletics part of the Olympics has begun, there’s another South African medals veteran we should keep a close eye on.

Akani Simbine has been ranked among the top sprinters in the world for nearly a decade, and the 30-year-old blazed into second place in the 100m at London’s Olympic Stadium only two weeks ago, crossing the line in 9.86sec, only 0.04 seconds behind current favourite, American Noah Lyles.

It’s not the speedster’s first rodeo, having come fifth in the 2016 Rio Olympics and fourth in the Tokyo Games in 2020. With a strong second only the other day, the math seems to point to a possible upset for Lyles.

Simbine will sprint his way through the heats on Saturday and if all goes well, the semis and final shootouts on Sunday. Many believe the winning time this year will be under 9.80, which has only been done by two sprinters this year – Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson (9.77) and Ferdinand Omanyala (9.73) – although both of them had recorded tailwinds of 0.09 m/sec and +1.5 m/sec respectively.

Lyles and Simbine ran into a -0.3 m/sec headwind, so who knows what may happen.

 

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Simbine seems to be in a good place off the track as well.

“This year is different. I’ve focused on myself, my journey and how I’m going to race, how I’m going to out the races together, I’m focusing on myself in my lane and on my race pattern. That has been the big difference and it;’s working for me.”

“I feel confident. This year we’ve done things very different to before. he says. “I’m happy and life is good. I have a beautiful family and they’re here supporting me. I’m in a good space, and have good energy around me. I’m grateful for all the support I’ve been getting and see the good wishes on social media.”

“Having my parents, wife and kids here is special. It’s the first time they’ve ever been together to watch me race.”

We don’t know about you guys, but we’re getting a tingly feeling that we might be witnessing something special this weekend.

 

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Track events with South Africans to look out for today are:

Men’s 1500m, (11.10 AM): Ryan Mphahlele

Men’s 1500m, (11.21 AM): Tshepo Tshite

Women’s 800m, (7.54 AM): Prudence Sekgodiso

Men’s shot put, (8.10 AM): Kyle Blignaut

Men’s 10 000m, (9.20 PM): Adriaan Wildschutt

[source:iol]