Johannesburg - Having dipped below the magical sub-10 second mark seven times over the last year Akani Simbine has now well and truly established himself as the country’s short sprint speed machine.
Returning to a hero’s welcome after his Rio Olympics exploits on Wednesday, Simbine was feeling bullish about his career prospects after an extraordinary 2016.
“At the beginning of the year I said my goal was to run sub-10 all the time and I managed to do that most of the time I got onto the track, so I’ve established myself as a sub-10 runner now,” Simbine said.
“I’ve learned for myself how to do it and it is just a matter of just getting the job done because I know my body can go that fast and even faster.”
Simbine rounded off his season at last week's Zurich Diamond League meeting where he finished second behind Jamaican Asafa Powell.
Powell posted his his 97th sub-10 time clocking 9.92 seconds with Simbine following in 9.99s.
Simbine made history last month when he became the first South African male sprinter since Danie Joubert in Los Angeles 1932 to make it into final of the 100m dash at the Olympic Games featuring in a star-studded lineup.
There he clocked his second fastest time ever finishing in a creditable fifth place in 9.94s.
Independent Media