Cape Town - Akani Simbine produced the run of his life to finish fifth in the Olympic 100m final in Rio, and is officially ranked fifth in terms of times this year.
But the 22-year-old South African record holder will hope to pull victory in his penultimate event of the season when he lines up in the Paris Diamond League meeting at the Stade de France on Saturday night.
Simbine was the quickest out of the blocks and was in the top three after 50 metres in the blue-riband race at Rio’s Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium on August 14, but the closer he got to the line, the more Usain Bolt started to move past Justin Gatlin.
Bolt (9.81) won his third consecutive Olympic 100m title and Gatlin (9.89) was the bridesmaid once more, but unfortunately for Simbine, Canadian Andre de Grasse finished strongly to claim the bronze in 9.91, with Jamaica’s Yohan Blake fourth in 9.93.
Simbine had to settle for fifth in 9.94, and while a personal best of 9.89 would’ve equalled Gatlin in second, his coach Werner Prinsloo said that they were both satisfied with the end result.
“We are very happy with the result. Everything worked out well,” Prinsloo told Independent Media on Friday ahead of the Paris Diamond League, where Simbine will be the only SA athlete in action.
Simbine will line up in Lane 4 at the Stade de France on Saturday night (9.51pm SA time) and could be considered the favourite as he is the highest-placed finisher from the Olympics in the field.
But the fastest man in the race from the 2016 season is Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut, who clocked a time of 9.86 on June 7, and will be determined to prove a point after bombing spectacularly in the Olympic final to come home in seventh position in a poor time of 10.04.
Simbine’s other major threats will be Ivorian Ben Youssef Meite, who was just behind the South African in Rio in 9.96, while 40-year-old Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis, as well as American Michael Rodgers will be contenders for the victory on Saturday in Paris.
Prinsloo, though, says his athlete is not really worried about the result. “The next two races (Paris and Zurich on September 1, which will be his final event of the year) are just to finish off the season. He won’t put too much pressure on himself. There is no pressure on him to do anything. He is just going out to run well and to finish off the season without any problems.”
But sometimes when the pressure’s off, athletes relax and post quick times, and South Africans who cheered on Simbine minutes after his good friend Wayde van Niekerk broke the 400m world record in Rio will be hoping for a quick time from our new sprint sensation.