Akani Simbine

Akani Simbine

Simbine in 2019
Personal information
Nationality	South African
Born	(1993-09-21) 21 September 1993 (age 31) Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa [1]
Height	176 cm (5 ft 9 in) [2]
Weight	74 kg (163 lb) [2]
Sport
Country	South Africa
Sport	Athletics
Events	100 m 200 m
University team	University of Pretoria Tuks HPC
Coached by	Werner Prinsloo [3]
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	100 m: 9.82  NR (Paris 2024) 150 m: 15.08  A (2020) 200 m: 19.95  A (2017) [4] [1]
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  South Africa Olympic Games 2024 Paris 4×100 m relay World Indoor Championships 2025 Nanjing 60 metres World Relays 2021 Chorzów 4×100 m relay 2019 Yokohama 4×200 m relay Commonwealth Games 2018 Gold Coast 100 m 2018 Gold Coast 4×100 m relay 2022 Birmingham 100 m African Championships 2018 Asaba 100 m 2018 Asaba 4×100 m relay 2016 Durban 4×100 m relay 2022 Mauritius 100 m 2016 Durban 100 m Universiade 2015 Gwangju 100 m 2015 Gwangju 4×100 m relay Representing Africa Continental Cup 2018 Ostrava 100 m

Akani Simbine (born 21 September 1993) is a South African sprinter specialising in the 100 metres event. ^[1] He was fifth at the 2016 Summer Olympics 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 Omanyala in September 2021.

Simbine was a World Championships finalist in the men's 100 metres in 2017 (fifth) and 2019 (fourth), and was 100 metres champion at the 2018 African Championships and 2018 Commonwealth Games. In the 4 × 100 metres relay, he helped South Africa become champions at the African Championships in 2016 and 2018, and place second at the 2018 Commonwealth Games 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 four major championship 100m races, including 4th at the 2019 World Championships and 2020 Summer Olympics missing out on the bronze medal to Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse.

After missing out on a medal yet again in the men's 100 metres at the 2024 Paris Olympics – finishing fourth with a new South African record time of 9.82, Simbine finally won an Olympic silver medal as part of South Africa's 4 × 100 metres relay team on 9 August 2024.

On 10 July 2024, the South African Olympic Committee designated him and the artistic gymnast Caitlin Rooskrantz as the flag bearers at the París 2024 Olympic Games. ^[5]

Biography

2013 World Championships

He competed in the 100 metres event at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. ^[6]

2015 Universiade

Whilst an Information Science student at the University of Pretoria, ^[2] 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, South Korea. ^[7]

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 on 18 July 2016. ^[8] He finished fifth in 9.94 seconds in the 100 m final of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on 14 August 2016. ^[9]

2017

In the first meet of the 2017 IAAF Diamond League in Doha, Simbine won the 100 m event with a time of 9.99 seconds. ^[10]

2018

Simbine in 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. ^{[11] [12]} 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 to the finish line in a world-leading time of 9.91 seconds in the heats. ^[13]

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. ^{[14] [15]} 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 of the Ivory Coast for the first 85 m before passing to win in 9.96 seconds. ^[15]

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. ^[16] He broke 10 seconds at the Gauteng North Championships at the University of Pretoria on 27 March, winning 9.99 seconds ahead of Gift Leotlela (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." ^[17]

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. ^[18] 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 Gift Leotlela's 10.16 seconds. ^[19]

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 but managed to close the gap and finish one-hundredth of a second ahead of Brazil with a time of 38.71 seconds. ^[20]

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, 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. ^[21]

2024

On 4 August, Simbine missed a podium finish in his third consecutive Olympic 100-metre final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, setting a national record of 9.82 seconds in fourth place. ^[22]

On 9 August, Simbine finally won an Olympic medal as part of the South African 4 × 100 metres relay team by claiming silver.

Statistics

Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted. ^[1]

Personal bests

Event	Time (s)	Wind (m/s)	Venue	Date	Notes
100 m	9.82	+1.0	Paris, France	4 August 2024
	9.82  A   w	+2.8	Pretoria, South Africa	15 April 2021	Altitude-assisted and wind-assisted
150 m	15.08  A	NWI	Johannesburg, South Africa	15 February 2020	Altitude-assisted, no wind information
200 m	19.95  A	+1.7	Pretoria, South Africa	4 March 2017	Altitude-assisted
4×100 m relay	37.65	—	Doha, Qatar	4 October 2019	African record [note 1]
4×200 m relay	1:20.42	—	Yokohama, Japan	12 May 2019	African record [note 2]

International championship results

Representing  South Africa and Africa (Continental Cup only)

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time	Wind (m/s)	Notes
2013	Universiade	Kazan, Russia	9th	100 m	10.49	−0.4
			7th	4×100 m relay	45.82	—
	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	37th	100 m	10.38	−0.3	[24]
2014	Commonwealth Games	Glasgow, Scotland	11th	100 m	10.21	−0.5
			5th	200 m	20.37	+0.5	PB
			4th	4×100 m relay	38.35	—	NR [note 3]
	African Championships	Marrakesh, Morocco	8th	100 m	13.14	+0.4
2015	Universiade	Gwangju, Korea	1st	100 m	9.97	0.0	NR, GR [26]
			3rd	4×100 m relay	39.68	—	Anchor [27]
	World Championships	Beijing, China	11th	100 m	10.02	+0.9
			17th	200 m	20.37	+0.4
			DNF (semi 2)	4×100 m relay	—	—
2016	African Championships	Durban, South Africa	3rd	100 m	10.05  w	+2.4	Wind-assisted
			1st	4×100 m relay	38.84	—
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	5th	100 m	9.94	+0.2
2017	World Championships	London, England	5th	100 m	10.01	−0.8
			18th	200 m	20.62  w	+2.1	Wind-assisted
2018	Commonwealth Games	Gold Coast, Australia	1st	100 m	10.03	+0.8	SB
			2nd	4×100 m relay	38.24	—	NR [note 4]
	African Championships	Asaba, Nigeria	1st	100 m	10.25	−2.1	[29]
			1st	4×100 m relay	38.25	—	Anchor [30]
	Continental Cup	Ostrava, Czech Republic	3rd	100 m	10.11	0.0
			DNF	4×100 m relay	—	—
2019	World Relays	Yokohama, Japan	9th	4×100 m relay	38.66	—
			2nd	4×200 m relay	1:20.42	—	AR [note 2]
	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	4th	100 m	9.93	+0.6
			5th	4×100 m relay	37.73	—
2021	World Relays	Chorzów, Poland	1st (stripped)	4×100 m relay	38.71	—	Anchor [20]
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	4th	100 m	9.93	+0.1
			–	4×100 m relay	DNF	—
2022	African Championships	Port Louis, Mauritius	2nd	100 m	9.93	+4.5
			6th (h)	4×100 m relay	40.99	—
	World Championships	Eugene, United States	5th	100 m	10.01	−0.1
			6th	4 × 100 m relay	38.10	—
2023	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	3rd (h)	100 m	9.971
			5th (h)	4 × 100 m relay	37.722
2024	Olympic Games	Paris, France	4th	100 m	9.82	+1.0	NR
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	37.57		AR
2025	World Indoor Championships	Nanjing, China	3rd	60 m	6.54	—

¹Disqualified in the semifinals

²Did not finish in the final

Circuit wins and national titles

• Diamond League (100 m)
  • Doha: 2017
  • London: 2019
  • Rome: 2020
• South African Championships
  • 100 m: 2015, 2017, 2021
  • 200 m: 2019

Seasonal bests

Year	100 m	200 m
2010	10.61	21.91
2011	10.57	21.27
2012	10.19	20.68
2013	10.36	20.79
2014	10.02	20.37
2015	9.97	20.23
2016	9.89	20.16
2017	9.92	19.95
2018	9.93	—
2019	9.92	20.27
2020	9.91  A	—
2021	9.84	20.29  A   w
2024	9.82	—

Track records

As of 9 September 2024, Simbine holds the following track records for 100 metres.

Location	Time	Windspeed m/s	Date	Notes
Gold Coast, Queensland	10.03	+ 0.8	09/04/2018
Gwangju	9.97	0.0	09/07/2015
Karlstad	10.09	+ 2.7	22/07/2015
Kladno	10.07	+ 0.3	13/06/2023
Paarl	10.08	– 0.4	22/03/2018
Pietermaritzburg	10.01	– 0.5	19/04/2024
Potchefstroom	9.92	+ 0.6	30/03/2023
Pretoria	9.82	+ 2.8	15/04/2021
Roodepoort	10.00	+ 2.1	23/03/2021
Saint Pierre	9.93	+ 4.5	09/06/2022	Track record shared with Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala from the same race.
Stellenbosch	10.06	– 0.1	15/04/2016
Suzhou	10.01	– 0.1	27/04/2024
Székesfehérvár	9.84	+ 1.2	06/07/2021

See also

• 2020 in 100 metres

Notes

1. Shared with Thando Dlodlo, Simon Magakwe, and Clarence Munyai for South Africa. Simbine anchored. ^[23]
2. Shared with Simon Magakwe, Chederick van Wyk, and Sinesipho Dambile. Simbine anchored. ^[31]
3. Shared with Henricho Bruintjies, Simon Magakwe, and Ncincilili Titi for South Africa. Simbine anchored. ^[25]
4. Shared with Henricho Bruintjies, Emile Erasmus, and Anaso Jobodwana for South Africa. Simbine anchored. ^[28]

References

1. "ATHLETE PROFILE Akani SIMBINE". World Athletics . Retrieved 18 May 2021.
2. "SIMBINE Akani". gwangju2015.kr. 2015 Summer Universiade. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
3. Breakfast, Siviwe (28 June 2018). "IAAF Diamond League: Simbine faces tough field in 100m". thesouthafrican.com. The South African. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
4. "Simbine makes history, runs fastest 100m in SA". sport24.co.za. News24. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
5. "Team SA flag bearers named at send-off banquet". South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
6. "South Africa at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics". IAAF. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
7. "Universiade 2015 Broken Records". gwangju2015.com. 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 8 September 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
8. Christopher Maduewesi (18 July 2016). "Akani Simbine storms to new South African 100m record of 9.89s!". makingofchamps.com. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
9. "Bolt blasts to 100m gold hat-trick" . Retrieved 29 August 2016.
10. "Akani Simbine streaks to victory in Doha! | IOL" . Retrieved 6 May 2017.
11. "Semenya and Simbine begin new season with a bang". iol.co.za. Independent Online (IOL)/African News Agency. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
12. "Akani Simbine EQUALS 150m SA RECORD!!". backtrack.co.za. BackTrack Sports. 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
13. Isaacson, David (14 March 2020). "Akani Simbine runs 100m like he's at the Olympics". timeslive.co.za. The Times . Retrieved 15 March 2020.
14. Isaacson, David (14 July 2020). "Simbine and Olympic hopefuls can train at last". Business Day (South Africa) . Retrieved 16 May 2021.
15. Mohamed, Ashfak (21 September 2020). "Despite "stupid-crazy Covid year", Simbini's march to the Olympics continues". Diamond Fields Advertiser (DFA) . Retrieved 16 May 2021.
16. Isaacson, David (23 March 2021). "Wind assistance denies Akani Simbine the world lead in 100m at Ruimsig". TimesLIVE . Retrieved 18 May 2021.
17. "Simbine clocks 9.99s against strong head wind". SuperSport . 28 March 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
18. Mohamed, Ashfak (15 April 2021). "Drama in Pretoria as strong wind denies Akani Simbine a new SA 100m record". Independent Online (South Africa) . Retrieved 16 April 2021.
19. Isaacson, David (16 April 2021). "Simbine claims his 29th sub-10 100m at SA champs". Daily Dispatch . Retrieved 17 April 2021.
20. "Simbine spurs South Africa to World Relays victory". Agence France-Presse via Jamaica Observer (2 May 2021). Retrieved 2 May 2021.
21. Sport24, Lynn Butler-. "Akani Simbine on heartbreaking 100m finish: 'It's going to drive me even more'". Sport. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
22. "Akani Simbine narrowly misses podium in third consecutive Olympic 100m final".
23. de Villiers, Ockert (4 October 2019). "South Africa men's relay sprinters keep medal hopes alive". Independent Online (South Africa) . Retrieved 18 May 2021.
24. "100 Metres Men – Round 1". IAAF . 10 August 2013. p. 2. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
25. "ATHLETICS MEN'S 4 X 100M RELAY FINAL" ^[usurped] . 2014 Commonwealth Games . 8 August 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
26. Butler, Nick (9 July 2015). "Superb Simbine breaks Summer Universiade record en route to Gwangju 2015 sprinting crown". Inside the Games . Retrieved 18 May 2021.
27. "ATHLETICS MEN'S 4X100M RELAY FINAL" (PDF). 2015 Summer Universiade . 12 July 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
28. Haden, Alexis (28 December 2018). "GWG2018: SA men’s relay team race to silver and new national record [video]". The South African . Retrieved 18 May 2021.
29. Oboh, Mike (2 August 2018). "Simbine, Ta Lou and Obiri claim African titles". Reuters . Retrieved 18 May 2021.
30. "Semenya, Simbine lead South Africa's Asaba medals charge". Independent Online (South Africa) . 5 August 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
31. Botton, Wesley (12 May 2019). "Simbine carries SA relay team to silver medal". The Citizen (South African newspaper) . Retrieved 18 May 2021.

External links

• Akani Simbine at World Athletics
• Akani Simbine at Diamond League
• Akani Simbine at Olympics.com
• Akani Simbine at Olympedia
• Akani Simbine at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)

Olympic Games
Preceded by Phumelela Mbande Chad le Clos	Flagbearer for   South Africa París 2024 With: Caitlin Rooskrantz	Succeeded by Incumbent