Akani Simbine (born 21 September 1993) is a South African sprinter specialising in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

event. He was fifth at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in the men's 100 metres and was the 100 metres African record holder with a time of 9.84 seconds set in July 2021 until broken by

Ferdinand Omurwa Ferdinand Omanyala Omurwa (born 2 January 1996) is a Kenyan sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. In 2022, he won his first international championships, with victories in the 100 m at the Commonwealth Games, ...

in September 2021. Simbine was a World Championships finalist in the men's 100 metres in

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(fifth) and

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(fourth), and was 100 metres champion at the 2018 African Championships and

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

. In the 4 × 100 metres relay he helped South Africa become champions at the African Championships in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

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, and place second at the

with a South African record time of 38.24 seconds. He anchored South Africa to gold at the 2021 World Relays. Simbine has finished inside the top 5 in the last 4 major championship 100m races including 4th in

2019 World Athletics Championships – Men's 100 metres The men's 100 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on 27 to 28 September 2019. Summary The semi-finals were dominated by world leader Christian Coleman, who was allowed to comp ...

and Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres missing out on the bronze medal to Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse.

Biography

2013 World Championships

He competed in the

event at the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

2015 Universiade

Whilst an Information Science student at the University of Pretoria, Simbine equalled the South African 100m record and set an event record on 9 July 2015 in his gold medal-winning run at the 2015 Universiade in

Gwangju Gwangju () is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office ...

, South Korea.

2016 South African record and Olympic Games

Simbine again broke the South African 100m record with a time of 9.89 seconds at the Gyulai István Memorial in

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...

on 18 July 2016. He finished fifth in 9.94 seconds in the 100 m final of the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

in Rio de Janeiro on 14 August 2016.

2017

In the first meet of the

2017 IAAF Diamond League The 2017 Diamond League was the eighth season of the annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It is the first to feature the new championship-style system in wh ...

in Doha, Simbine won the 100 m event with a time of 9.99 seconds.

2018

Simbine won the 2018 Commonwealth Games 100 m final in 10.03 seconds, relegating pre-race favourite Yohan Blake into third.

2020

Simbine started his 2020 season with a 150 metre race at the University of Johannesburg Stadium on 14 February, equalling the South African record time (15.08) while jogging to the finish line, but with no wind information. He ran his first 100 m for the season on 14 March at the University of Pretoria Tuks Stadium. Unsure whether or not he would be able to compete later in the season because of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic, he pushed all the way to the finish line in a world-leading time of 9.91 seconds in the heats. Simbine stopped track training in March and didn't get permission to resume training again until July, weeks after other sports had resumed training, after he pleaded with Athletics South Africa to allow athletes back onto the track.Mohamed, Ashfak (21 September 2020)
"Despite "stupid-crazy Covid year", Simbini's march to the Olympics continues"
''

Diamond Fields Advertiser (DFA) The ''Diamond Fields Advertiser (DFA)'' is a daily newspaper published in Kimberley, South Africa, founded on 23 March 1878. The early days The earliest paper on the Diamond Fields was a weekly called the ''Diamond Field'', published from 15 ...

''. Retrieved 16 May 2021. He would not be able to compete until leaving South Africa in mid-August for Europe, winning a series of 100 m competitions in Marseille, Rovereto, and Bellinzona in times of 10.19, 10.17, and 10.02 seconds respectively. He finished his season in September with a 100 m victory at the Rome Diamond League, trailing

Arthur Cissé Arthur Gue Cissé (born 29 December 1996) is an Ivorian professional sprinter specializing in the sprints. He owns the Ivorian national records in the 60 m, 100 m, 150 m, and 200 m distances, including a sub-10 second time of ...

of the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

for the first 85 m before passing to win in 9.96 seconds.

2021

Simbine started the season with a 10.00 seconds win in the 100 metres at the Athletix Invitational in Johannesburg on 23 March, which would have been a leading time but for the wind velocity, which was just over the allowable +2.0 m/s limit. He broke 10 seconds at the Gauteng North Championships at the University of Pretoria on 27 March, winning in 9.99 seconds ahead of

Gift Leotlela Tlotliso Gift Leotlela (born 12 May 1998) is a South African sprint (running), sprinter. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres, men's 200 metres race; his time of 20.59 seconds ...

(10.20) into a –3.0 wind. According to ''SuperSport'', Simbine claimed that the "windy conditions were some of the worst I ever raced in." On 15 April at the South African Championships in Pretoria, Simbine competed in the men's 100 metres, finishing his first round heat in 10.11 seconds. He then won his semi-final in 9.82 seconds, the fastest he had ever run, but the wind was again over the limit for record purposes at +2.8 m/s. The next day he clocked his 29th sub-10-second time with 9.99 seconds to win the final, finishing 0.17 seconds ahead of second placing

's 10.16 seconds. Two weeks later, on 2 May, Simbine anchored South Africa to gold in the men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2021 World Relays. He received the baton three metres behind Brazil's

Paulo André de Oliveira Paulo André Camilo de Oliveira (often called Camilo to avoid homonymy, born 20 August 1998) is a Brazilian sprinter. In the 100 metres, he was a silver medalist at the 2019 Pan American Games, and a semifinalist in the World Athletics Champions ...

, but managed to close the gap and finish one hundredth of a second ahead of Brazil with a time of 38.71 seconds. On 6 July, racing at the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix, Simbine set a new national and African record of 9.84 seconds, in winning the final. On 1 August, At the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, held in Tokyo, Japan, Simbine finished fourth in a time of 9.93 seconds, behind winner Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy, with a time of 9.80 seconds.

Statistics

Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

International championship results

Circuit wins and national titles

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

(100 m) ** Doha:

** London:

** Rome:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

* South African Championships **100 m:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

**200 m:

Seasonal bests

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simbine, Akani 1993 births Living people South African male sprinters Sportspeople from Johannesburg Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics World Athletics Championships athletes for South Africa University of Pretoria alumni Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of South Africa Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for South Africa Universiade bronze medalists for South Africa African Championships in Athletics winners South African Athletics Championships winners Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games