Simbine storms to 2nd place in 100m race at London's Diamond League, massive boost ahead of Olympics

Akani Simbine powered his way back into Olympic reckoning as he stormed through to finish second in a stacked 100m Diamond League race in London on Saturday.

Reigning world champion Noah Lyles of the US won in a 9.81 sec personal best, but Simbine, who is comfortable using his top-end speed towards the end of the race to reel in his rivals, came through to take second in a 9.86 season’s best that places him joint fifth on the world list.

Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, second at last year’s world championships, ended third in a 9.88 personal best. Jamaican Ackeem Blake was fifth and Briton Zharnel Hughes, world championship bronze medallist, was sixth.

That’s an impressive list of scalps, especially just two weeks before the 100m heats at the Olympics.

Simbine, the only South African in action on the day, was chuffed with his display. “That’s a big confidence-booster before Paris,” said the 30-year-old.

“There’s a part of the middle that I didn’t execute as I wanted, but I came through strong. So I’m happy with that and just work on that middle part and we’re good to go.”

Simbine wasn’t happy with his performance from 50m to 60m. “That’s where I think they just moved and I didn’t move and I moved later on. It’s just a technical area that we can just sort out, there’s not anything that we need a lot of work to do.

“But happy with going into the Games with the season’s best. It’s the last competition before the Games and I couldn’t have asked for more.”

That’s the third time Simbine has dipped under 9.90 in his career and the third time he’s done it in an Olympic year — he went 9.89 in 2016 and 9.84 in 2021.

Simbine, who is still searching for the first major medal of his career, was in the world’s top five every year from 2016 to 2022, finishing fourth at the Tokyo Games and the 2019 World Championships.

At last year’s world championships, he was disqualified for false-starting in the semifinals.

In the build-up to Paris, he has hardly featured in talk about medal hopefuls, and even on Saturday he was sidelined into lane seven at the expense of two of the local sprinters.

But the old lion proved he can still roar.

South Africa’s 800m starlet Prudence Sekgodiso didn’t compete, but a lightning women’s 800m race won by British star Keely Hodgkinson saw her getting bumped down the world list from third place to seventh.

Hodgkinson was in a class of her own as she cruised around the track in 1 min 54.61 sec to register herself as the sixth-fastest runner in history. Her time was the quickest since Caster Semenya in 2018.