While a lot has been said about Wayde van Niekerk training with Usain Bolt this week, it’s actually his good friend who will be going head-to-head with the fastest man in the world on Saturday.
South African 100-metre record holder Akani Simbine will face Jamaican Bolt in Saturday’s Racers Grand Prix in Kingston in what is a star-studded line-up featuring some of the quickest sprinters in history.
Bolt’s world record stands at a phenomenal 9.58, but a look at the personal bests of the six other competitors proves just how tough Simbine’s task will be at the National Stadium.
With six Jamaicans in the field, Yohan Blake was the 2011 world champion and 2012 London Olympic silver medallist, and his 100m best of 9.69 is the joint-second fastest in history (with American Tyson Gay).
Veteran Asafa Powell is fourth with 9.72, and then we go down quite a bit. Nickel Ashmeade’s best is 9.90; Kemar Bailey-Cole, the 2014 Commonwealth Games champ, has run 9.92; Simbine’s SA mark is 9.96; and the two athletes who haven’t broken 10 seconds is Barbados; Ramon Gittens (10.02) and Jason Livermore of Jamaica (10.05).
But Simbine’s coach Werner Prinsloo told Independent Media on Friday that his charge has taken it all in while training with Bolt and renowned coach Glen Mills this week. “He is really enjoying it so much. He has an opportunity to ask a lot of questions, and he’s training with Yohan Blake and Warren Weir (Jamaican 200m star) as well, so it’s a great time for him.
“They’ve had a few training sessions together and he’s picked up a few things and told Akani a few things. So I hope to early next week have a Skype session with coach Mills to hear what he has to say.
“He says he’s feeling good, and the sessions he’s had so far have gone well, especially with the technical aspects such as getting out of the blocks.”
A hamstring injury at the South African championships in April hampered Simbine’s hopes of winning the title, and he came second to Henricho Bruintjies at Coetzenburg in Stellenbosch.
The 22-year-old Simbine only made his return last week at the Rome Diamond League, and ended fifth in 10.13, a reasonable time in a comeback race, with Justin Gatlin winning in 9.93.
With such a strong field at the Racers Grand Prix on Saturday, Simbine will hope to break through the 10-second barrier again.
“Akani says it’s very windy where they are, but they are running at the Jamaican National Stadium, which is not where they are staying. But he is really looking forward to the race. He hasn’t focused on it really as he just wants to get through the week’s training, but on Saturday, he will put on his game-face,” Prinsloo said.
“He is running against Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell and Kemar Bailey-Cole. I think it’s going to be a good race, and it’s just a pity that we won’t be able to watch it.
“Akani just needs to get his form back after the problems he had the SA championships. The Rome Diamond League went well, even though he said that he felt a bit rusty. It was a good time (10.13) and he is on par with where he was last year in Rome, but he just felt not everything was in sync.
“I think after this week, he will feel a bit better and hopefully he can run a sub-10 again, which would be great for his confidence ahead of the African Championships.”
Van Niekerk will run the 300m on Saturday, while a third South African who has trained with Bolt this week is Justine Palframan from Maties, who will run in the women’s 400m.
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Independent Media