With three-time champion and Rio 2016 winner Usain Bolt now retired, there is guaranteed to be a new Olympic 100m sprint king for the first time since 2004. South Africa’s Akani Simbine is quietly confident that it can be him.
South African sprinting superstar Akani Simbine is going into the Olympics in the form of his life. If there was ever a time for him to become the first South African sprinter to land a podium finish since Reggie Walker in the 1908 Olympics, it is now.
Three weeks ago, at the Gyulai István Memorial meet in Hungary, Simbine obliterated his 100m personal best time, the meeting record, the South African record as well as the African record when he ran 9.84 seconds. Simbine will face competition from the likes of American trio Trayvon Bromell, Ronnie Baker and Fred Kerley. Canadian Andre De Grasse, who won bronze in Rio five years ago, is also a threat.In April the 2018 Commonwealth 100m champion ran a time of 9.82 in the semifinal of the South African Championships in Pretoria. It couldn’t be recorded as the wind on the day was over the limit for record purposes.
Earlier this week the duo scooped Team SA’s first medals of Tokyo 2020 when they landed silver in the 100m breaststroke and the first surfing competition at the Olympics respectively.
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