It has been a busy time for newly crowned 100m SA Record Holder, Akani Simbine. The 22-year-old Tuks athlete stunned the country, and himself, on Tuesday 8 March when he took over the SA 100m Record which up until then had been jointly shared between himself and training partner, Henricho Bruintjies. But on Tuesday 8 March, Simbine took ownership.
Chased until 60m by Emile Erasmus, the Tuks Athlete found another gear, blew away the opposition and the old record to cross the line in 9.96sec. The previous record had stood at 9.97sec. Now Simbine lines up in the first of the two Varsity Athletics meetings on Friday 18 March at UJ Stadium.
“It has been a heavy 10 days for me since the breaking of the record. There were many media interviews asked of me and then I also competed at the AGN Provincial Championships on 11 and 12 March. So my body is a bit tired. But on Friday I will focus on executing a good race. We have been working on my start, as this is not the strongest part of my race. I tend to come through strongly in the second half. So I will look for a good start and then concentrate on making sure the different phases are executed according to my and Werner’s plan.” Werner being Werner Prinsloo, Simbine’s coach.
Simbine competed in both the 100m and 200m at the Provincial Championships on 11 and 12 March at Pildtich in Pretoria. That meant a total of five races in two days after his exploits on Tuesday 8 March. In the process he produced a 20.29 time for the 200m, a Season’s Best and then was clocked at 10.10sec (semi-finals) and 10.01sec (finals) in the 100m.
Whilst Simbine may not break his own record on Friday 18 March, should he get close to the 10sec mark it would mean valuable points for Tuks, or the University of Pretoria who have won this competition since its inception in 2013. 10sec or 10.01sec would give Tuks 1210 or 1205 points. All very valuable to the university.
Simbine’s opening up of the season with a sub 10sec clocking has made him the talk of the athletics world as the 9.96sec is currently a World Leading Mark. “I am stunned but there is more I want to achieve this year with Rio the big focus. So this is a really good yardstick for me,” says Simbine.
2015 was the big breakthrough year for Akani Simbine who has been threatening to go below 10seconds for some time now. In 2014, at the National Championships he just missed out on dipping 10seconds when he finished runner up to Simon Magakwe (now serving a two year doping ban) who was timed at 9.98sec. Simbine clocked 10.02sec.
But in 2015 Simbine exploded. First a 9.99sec time posted in Velenje, Slovenia on 1 July. Eight days later he equaled the SA Record of 9.97sec his now training partner Henricho Bruintjies had run in La Chaux de Fonts, France. Simbine ran 9.97sec to win Gold at the World Student Championships in Gwangju, China before progressing to the semi finals in the 100m at the World Championships.
By Manfred Seidler
