Sublime Simbine surprises
Akani Simbine is making a habit of surprising coach Werner Prinsloo.
|||Akani Simbine is making a habit of surprising coach Werner Prinsloo.
And he gave him the best one yet when he seared to a new SA 100m record at the first leg of the ASA Nite Series in Pretoria on Tuesday night.
Magical night of #trackandfield in Pretoria as @akani_simbine set a new #southafrican reco… https://t.co/O3mMcPMdEp pic.twitter.com/enW6I0SGSQ
— Roger Sedres (@rogersedres) March 9, 2016
Prinsloo admits he lay awake recovering from the shock while the record-breaking race played out on repeat in his mind. “It was a big one, I hardly had any sleep last night from excitement but it was also a combination of shock,” Prinsloo said.
After sharing the 100m record of 9.97 with new training partner Henricho Bruintjies, Simbine has taken sole ownership of the national mark with his time of 9.96 seconds.
Simbine burst on to the local scene in 2012 when he shattered the SA junior 100m record at the Zone VI Games in Lusaka, clocking in at 10.19.
This was the first time Simbine would spring a surprise on Prinsloo.
Congrats 2 Akani Simbine - the fastest man in South Africa after he broke 100m record with a time of 9.96 seconds pic.twitter.com/ahUkdlCsYS
— South African Heroes (@SA_Heroes) March 9, 2016
The sprinter is only in the early stages of his preparations for Rio and there is still plenty of work for him before his season starts in earnest.
“We weren’t planning on racing in the meet, we would have started with the Gauteng North Championships this weekend but that is just how things pan out,” Prinsloo said.
“The random meetings tend to produce the best results, and to run that kind of time in his first race is unbelievable.
“He has a way of surprising me, this was the second time he has done that, the first time being when he ran 10.19 as a junior.”
Prinsloo and Simbine said setting a world leading time this early in the season would not undermine their preparations and program they have planned for the year.
His performance was his third sub-10 second race, while he is the first athlete this year to dip below that magical mark.
Simbine’s time is also the fastest one on home soil.
“This changes nothing, we will carry on, we will keep to the program ... the schedule will stay the same,” Prinsloo said. “It looks like he is comfortable running sub-10 seconds, so I think it is the kind of times we can expect from him but I don’t want to make predictions.
“We are not chasing times. If they come it is a bonus but there are other milestones we want to achieve.
“The big goal is the Olympics where he is looking to book a place in the final.”
Simbine revealed that, although he ran 9.97 at the World University Games in South Korea to equal the record with Bruintjies, it was at sea-level, and that he would like to do the same again at the SA Senior Championships in Stellenbosch next month.
“My 9.97 was at sea level with no wind, so I am pretty confident that if my plans for me to be in that shape at that time I can do it,” he said.
This weekend’s Gauteng North Championships at the same venue could potentially be filled with fireworks as Simbine and Bruintjies are set to line up against each other.
Bruintjies recently joined Prinsloo’s training group where he has had a few sessions with Simbine.
The duo has been embroiled in a tit-for-tat battle to be the undisputed king of sprinting in South Africa. Simbine made the first steps when he unleashed a 9.99 in Velenje in July before Bruintjies broke Magakwe’s record by 0.01 seconds in Switzerland on July 5 last year.
Bruintjies was the sole record holder for only four days before Simbine equalled his time to win the World Student title. - The Star