Cape Town – It was almost like an 60m indoor race, so tight were the lanes, but Akani Simbine will be satisfied with his preparation in Boston for the African Championships in Durban next weekend.
Simbine lined up in the 100m race at the Adidas Boost Boston Games early on Sunday morning (SA time) on a specially laid track in Charles Street in the US East Coast city.
There was only space for five lanes, and in the end, Jamaican Warren Weir false-started and was disqualified.
With the crowd right alongside the athletes, the remaining four sprinters tried their best, but weren’t able to run really quick times as a result.
SA record-holder Simbine finished fourth in 10.32, well short of the 10.01 he produced when he ran against Usain Bolt in Kingston, Jamaica last weekend.
American Marvin Bracy, who has a personal best of 9.93, caused an upset when he pipped Jamaican star Yohan Blake on the line in 10.23, with Blake credited with the same time.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Keston Bledman finished in third spot in 10.29.
Now Simbine will set his sights on the African Championships, which take place at the Kings Park Athletics Stadium in Durban from June 22-26.
Apart from the 100m, Simbine has been entered for the 200m as well, where he will face close friend Wayde van Niekerk.
The 400m world champion won his race in Boston comfortably at the weekend in 44.28, but has said previously that he enjoys running in the 200m and might even concentrate on the shorter sprints in future.
World Student Games 400m champion Justine Palframan joined Van Niekerk and Simbine in Jamaica and Boston, and ended sixth at the weekend in 53.17. But the Maties will also only run in the 200m in Durban.
Meanwhile, teenage sensation Gift Leotlela underlined his undoubted talent when he clocked an Olympic qualifying time of 20.47 in the 200m at the Southern Region Under-20 Championships in Lusaka on Saturday.
The 18-year-old sprinter, who is in matric at the TuksSport High School in Pretoria, also won the 100m title on Friday in 10.47. He is the second SA teenager to run an Olympic qualifying time in the 200m, with his Tuks teammate Clarence Munyai having run a personal best of 20.36 in Germiston in April.
The 18-year-old Munyai produced another qualifier of 20.45 in the 200m heats in Lusaka on Saturday, but was disqualified in the final.
But the road to Rio for both Munyai and Leotlela is uncertain, as only three South Africans can be entered in the 200m. Their participation might depend on whether Simbine and Van Niekerk decide to run the distance in Brazil as well.
Van Niekerk, though, is likely to run just the 400m, with Simbine and SA record-holder Anaso Jobodwana the two quickest runners in the country. Jobodwana, though, has hardly raced in 2016 due to injury, and is in a race against time to be ready for Rio.
The 200m world championship bronze medallist in Beijing last year has not selected for the SA team for the African Championships in Durban, and has said in media reports that he hopes to start running in July again.
If Jobodwana is fit for Rio, then there may be just one spot left between Munyai and Leotlela.
The latter has been entered in the 100m in Durban, with Munyai going in the 200m.
@IndyCapeSport