Sprint icon Akani Simbine will get another chance to bag that elusive Olympic medal when he leads the South African team in Friday evening’s 4x100m final.
Since making his Olympics debut at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro, Simbine has fallen agonisingly short of winning a 100m medal. He placed 5th in the final in Rio, and 4th in the 2020 Tokyo games, which were held in 2021.
Now aged 30, the Paris games are seen as his last realistic chance of finally walking away with a medal.
There was more heartbreak for Simbine last week when he finished fourth in one of the closest 100m Olympic finals in years. This was despite him setting a national record of 9.82 seconds.
And now, Simbine has one more chance to win an Olympic medal.
South Africa’s 4x100m relay team, featuring Simbine, Shaun Maswanganyi, Bradle Nkoana, and schoolboy Bayand Walaza, powered their way through the heats on Thursday, and finished second behind the United States in a time of 37.94.
On the home straight, Simbine passed four other runners as he took Team SA across the line. Along with the US, they were the only teams to dip under 38 seconds.
And with newly crowned 100m champion Noah Lyles in doubt after testing positive for Covid-19, South Africa and Simbine’s chances of a medal have improved. Lyles, however, did not take part in the relay heats.
“I’m just really happy with qualifying for the next round. I think right now we’re in really good position for tomorrow [Friday] and we’re looking forward to racing,” Simbine said after the race.
“[Thursday’s race] was just about qualifying. We did that, and tomorrow we have to clean up everything and make sure that we have good baton exchange throughout and just get the job done.”
The 4x100m final is scheduled for 7.47pm on Friday.
IOL Sport