Boom! Sprinter Akani Simbine scored his first Diamond League victory of the season as he ran a near-perfect 100m to win in London in a season’s best 9.93sec.
The Commonwealth Games champion produced a lightning start against a dangerous field that featured British star Zharnel Hughes, Yohan Blake of Jamaica and Canadian speedster Andre De Grasse.
But Simbine never let up and allowed his top-end speed to take him over the line just two-hundredths of a second ahead of local favourite Hughes. Blake was third in 9.97 with Japan’s Yuki Koike breaking 10 seconds for the first time in his career, just a year out from the Tokyo Olympics. De Grasse was sixth in 9.99.
Simbine, fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympics,seems to be climbing towards his peak at the right time in the build-up to the world championships in Doha from September 27 to October 6. His win is the first on the Diamond League circuit by an SA man this year.
“I came here to get the Diamond League points and make sure I get the win to build the confidence,” said Simbine, who also won his heat in 10.01.
“It ’s mostly about building the confidence and making sure I get through the races and winning them so by the time I get to World Champs and I’m facing the rest of the world I’ll be ready and the confidence will be there and I’ll be able to believe in the work I've done.”
The men’s long jump wasn’t a Diamond League event. Luvo Manyonga sailed to an 8.37m season’s best on his penultimate attempt to overtake Jamaican Tajay Gayle, who had launched an 8.32m personal best in the third round. Ruswaal Samaai achieved his 8.11m in the second round.
“I was a little scared and I was holding back to start,” said Manyonga, who injured his left ankle — the one he jumps off — in Rabata month ago.
“At the beginning I needed to test my ankle as I was not sure my ankle could handle it, but I said to myself just jump because this is where I was crowned world champion.”
Manyonga jumped 8.48m to win the world title in 2017, and at last year’s Diamond League there he won in an 8.58m meet record.
So far just 12 South Africans have qualified for the world championships on Athletics SA’s (ASA) tough qualifying standards, while another 13 have achieved the criteria set by the IAAF, the sport’s world governing body.
One of them is US-based Dominique Scott, who will attempt to make it in the women ’s 5,000m today.
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