Storming Simbine pushes reshuffled SA men into Paris 4x100m relay final

Akani Simbine carried South Africa from the back of the field to a spot in the Olympic 4x100m relay final with a sensational storming anchor run at Stade de France on Thursday.

The 30-year-old, who finished fourth in the men’s 100m, took the baton with South Africa in seventh place and rocketed down the home straight in 8.86sec, the fastest leg of the morning.

He crossed the line second behind the US, missing two or three of their main stars, including Noah Lyles, clocking 37.94sec.

Just across the road diver Julia Vincent secured a spot in the women’s 3m springboard final, finishing sixth among the 12 qualifiers who will compete on Friday afternoon, just a few hours before the men’s relay.

Belief in the relay has been restored after the withdrawal of injured Benjamin Richardson, who had been due to run the second leg down the back straight.

South Africa had to adapt quickly, bringing US-based Shaun Maswanganyi, normally the starter, to the second leg, with Pretoria-based matric pupil Bayanda Walaza going up front.

Bradley Nkoana ran the third leg, but he and Walaza ran those same legs at World Relays in Bahamas where they qualified the team for Paris.

Now they’re in the Olympic final with a time that seeds them second overall.

Other teams are going to bring in their stars to get faster, but there’s plenty of room for the South Africans to tidy up at handovers.

“Oh definitely,” Maswanganyi said when asked if there were areas they could improve. “I mean just because we had to swiftly adapt, just me slotting in in the second exchange, I've never ran second in my life.

“It's a whole different experience having to get the stick and then give it. I got in an uncomfortable position. That's my first changeover today [Thursday] with Bayanda.

“It was good in the sense we got it around, we made a few errors, we still ran a solid time.

“That shows we have the depth and we have the talent, we're able to persevere through the challenges; to have two injuries and still be able to put up a solid time like that.”

Maswanganyi said his coach from Houston, legendary athlete Carl Lewis, was playing an advisory role with “a little bit here and there”.

“I’m excited for the final and I know we're going to have to put our best foot forward, go back to the drawing board and analyse and see where we can improve in making sure the stick is a lot swifter.

“Coach Carl is also helping us with that so at least we have a bit more insight as well,” he said, adding national relays coach Paul Gorries had done a great job adapting to the injury crisis.

Sinesipho Dambile, one of the relay reserve runners, had also been struggling with an injury, he added.

Simbine played down his own brilliant run. “I just need to run my leg. That’s all that went through my mind.

“I didn't know where we were in position. It was just me making sure I ran my leg and putting the best foot out.

“I think once we were at about the 70m mark I could see my position and I was like, ‘OK, we're fine. We're getting through to the line. I know we’re going to win this. Let’s see how fast we can go’.”

Asked if his split was a lifetime best, he said he didn’t know. “I'm not sure. I just know my body is hot now so it was moving. I'm happy we qualified.

“That was the most important thing for the team to qualify for the final and get the country through to the next round.”

The South Africans will start in lane seven, which is effectively the sixth with the inside lane, number two, going to defending champions Italy.

The Americans are in lane five and Great Britain four.

Walaza, who has had to continue with online classes on his French odyssey, said he had been nervous in the call room listening to the roars of the 80,000-strong crowd.

“When I went onto the track I was like, ‘You know what? I know what I’m doing. This is what I do every day, so why must I be scared of these guys?’

“Because there was even [the US's Christian] Coleman, the best starter in the world. But I was like, ‘You know what? If this is the day I must beat him, it is’.”

Marioné Fourie won her 100m hurdles repechage in 12.79 to advance to Friday’s semifinals.

“It’s just starting to warm up so I’m happy about the race and I know I can go faster,” she said.

All the latest Paris Games coverage on TimesLIVE’s Olympics 2024 page.

All the Team SA results here.