Halala: Akani Simbine Breaks SA and Africa 100m Records in Hungary
- South African sprinter and track athlete Akani Simbine has beaten the South African and African 100m event records
- This took place in Hungary and will surely give him the confidence needed to produce the same results in the Tokyo Olympics
- Mzansi sports fans are excited about what Akani can do and can't wait to see him take part in the world sporting event
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Akani Simbine, a South African sprinter, is in top form ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, as he dominated the field in a 100m event at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial meet in Hungary on Tuesday.
Simbine broke the African record of 9.85 seconds and set a new South African record of 9.84 seconds. He finished ahead of Michael Rogers (USA), who came in second with a time of10.00, and Marvin Bracy (USA), who came in third with a time of 10.02.
Source: Twitter
Justin Gatlin, a former world and Olympic champion, finished sixth according to a report by Sport24.
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Simbine's time also surpassed the 9.85 African record held by Nigerian Olusoji Adetokunbo Fasuba since May 2006, as well as the 9.86 meeting record held by Jamaican Asafa Powell.
According to BusinessDay, it put him in joint second place on the world list, a hundredth of a second ahead of Bracy and another American, Ronnie Baker.
The real value of this performance, however, will be the boost in confidence it provides Simbine ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. His preparation had centred on breaking his national record and putting a fast time in his legs that he could carry into Japan.
Shaun Maswanganyi speaks exclusively to Briefly News about his journey
In other sports news, Briefly News reported that South African track athlete Shaun Maswanganyi has had quite the journey and recently bagged himself a spot in the Tokyo Olympics, which will be commencing on Friday, 23 July.
Speaking exclusively to Briefly News, Shaun opened up on how he's feeling about competing on the world stage; he also spoke about his journey in sports and it didn't all start with track. Shaun is multitalented in many sports but he decided that athletics was where he belonged.
Shaun said that his coach is the one who played a big part in him becoming a track athlete.
"He saw my talent in pretty much every sport I took part in. When it came to rugby, basketball and soccer. So he saw my speed and jumping ability," he said.
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Source: Briefly News
