While national champion Henricho Bruintjies withdrew, the rest of the South African 100m sprinting contingent made a solid start to the African Championships in Durban on Wednesday.
Bruintjies was ruled out with a hamstring strain, according to the athletics manager at his Tuks HPC club, Danie Cornelius, who told Independent Media on Wednesday that the “Blitz from Klapmuts” had also pulled out of the 4x100m relay event later this week.
“The doctor advised that it would be in his best interest not to run as it might aggravate the injury. It is not serious, but more precautionary,” Cornelius said.
So while Bruintjies should be able to have a proper build-up to the Rio Olympics in August, his absence at the Kings Park Athletics Stadium means that there won’t be a rematch with Akani Simbine.
Bruintjies beat Simbine for the SA 100m title in Stellenbosch in April, but the latter pulled up with a hamstring injury close to the line, but still finished the race. So there are questions around who is exactly the SA No 1, with Simbine’s national record at 9.96 and Bruintjies’ personal best at 9.97 – although he did run a wind-assisted time of 9.89 in Italy a few weeks ago.
Simbine, though, cruised to victory in his heat on Wednesday morning in 10.27, with Bruintjies’ replacement, Thando Roto, also qualifying for the semi-finals on Wednesday evening with a 10.36. Teenager Gift Leotlela advanced to the next round as well in 10.47.
The quickest times were from the Ivory Coast’s Ben Youssef Meité (10.22), while Zambian Gerald Phiri (10.23) was second on the qualifying list.
In the female section, new African record-holder Murielle Ahouré of Ivory Coast clocked 11.42 to go through to the semi-finals on Wednesday evening, with fellow Ivorian Marie-Josee Ta Lou qualifying fastest in 11.35.
With SA 100m champion Alyssa Conley concentrating on the 200m in Durban, national record-holder Carina Horn won her heat in 11.46, while Tebogo Mamatu also made the semis in 11.86.
The men’s decathlon also got under way on Wednesday morning, with Willem Coertzen and Fredriech Pretorius representing South Africa. They ended second and third respectively in the 100m, while Coertzen won the long jump by beating Pretorius by 1cm in 7.27m compared to 7.26m. Coertzen ended fourth in the shot put, with Pretorius sixth.
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