Cape Town – Akani Simbine proved that he will be the man to beat in the 100m final by strolling to victory in his semi-final at the South African championships on Thursday.
The national record-holder ran in the second semi-final at the Green Point Stadium, and despite a fast start by Commonwealth Games silver medallist Henricho Bruintjies, Simbine put his foot down in the second half of the race to win in a time of 10.41 seconds, which was into a strong headwind of 2.1 metres per second.
Bruintjies has been out of action for about two years now due to various injuries, so he will be pleased that he could reach the final – which takes place at 4.10pm on Thursday – by finishing second behind Simbine in 10.52.
There was an even stronger headwind of 4.5m/s in the first semi-final, where Emile Erasmus clinched victory in 10.67, followed by Samkelo Sabela in 10.74.
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Olympic star Gift Leotlela ended fourth with a time of 10.80, and will miss out on the final.
In the third semi-final, Neo Mosebi of KwaZulu-Natal was victorious in 10.61.
In the women’s 100m semi-finals, Carina Horn won her race in 11.65, but did not record the quickest time, which went to Tamzin Thomas in 11.60.
Despite the withdrawal of teenage star Viwe Jingqi earlier on Thursday, Horn won’t have it all her own way in the final at 4.10pm, as Phindile Kubheka posted a time of 11.62 behind Thomas.
Men’s 100m final list (4.10pm Thursday)
1 Gianno Peddy
2 Eckhart Potgieter
3 Henricho Bruintjies
4 Neo Mosebi
5 Akani Simbine
6 Emile Erasmus
7 Bradley Nkoana
8 Samkelo Sabela
Women’s 100m final list (4pm Thursday)
1 Mphontsheng Sekese
2 Rose Xeyu
3 Phindile Kubheka
4 Carina Horn
5 Tamzin Thomas
6 Reabetswe Moloi
7 Miranda Coetzee
8 Kayla Murray