Ashfak Mohamed

HE’S ALREADY set a national record this year, so Akani Simbine is the man to beat in the 100m sprint at the SA athletics championships over the next few days.

Simbine – who is the SA record holder with a superb 9.84sec in the 100m – set a national best of 15.04 in the 150m in February at a season opener in Pretoria.

He followed it up with a 200m race in the Athletics SA Grand Prix event in Johannesburg, where he ran a solid 20.32 to finish second behind Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (19.94).

But Simbine’s journey to the Paris Olympics later this year will start in earnest at the Msunduzi Athletics Stadium in Pietermaritzburg, where he will compete in the 100m heats, semi-finals, and the final.

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The defending champion will be the favourite once more for the title – with the likes of Gift Leotlela, Benjamin Richardson and Cheswill Johnson providing strong competition – but he will hope to make a big statement early in the season by pushing for a sub-10-second time.

Simbine produced two sparkling times in last year’s nationals, clocking 9.98 in his heat and then 9.92 in the semi-final, but bad weather affected the final, which saw him win his fifth SA crown in 10.14.

The 30-year-old sprinter will then move on to international races in the build-up to the Paris Olympics, where he will be determined to make up for last year’s disqualification for a false start in the semi-finals of the world championships in Budapest.

Another Olympic medal contender, Wayde van Niekerk, will also be in action, but in the 200m instead of his usual 400m event.

Van Niekerk has had a lengthy build-up in training over the last few months, so it will be interesting to see how the 400m world record holder shapes up in the half-lap race.

In-form SA record holder Adriaan Wildschutt will also be one to watch in the men’s 5,000m final as the US-based athlete makes a rare appearance on home soil.

On the women’s front, 100m hurdler Marioné Fourie is the standout athlete as she strives to get closer to medal contention at the Olympics.

The 21-year-old speedster’s SA record is a superb 12.55, which saw her ranked 17th in the world last year, and she will hope to go one better and reach the Olympic final after her semi-final appearance at the world championships last year.

Teenage sprinter Viwe Jingqi will go for the 100m-200m sprint double, while middle-distance star Prudence Sekgodiso won’t be racing her usual 800m distance, but getting in some endurance work in the 1,500m and 5,000m.

In the field events, long jumper Jovan van Vuuren and shot-put giant Kyle Blignaut will be going all out to produce eye-catching performances on SA soil before they set their sights on overseas meetings before the Olympics.

ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za