Team South Africa’s Akani Simbine may have to run a personal best time in the 100m final to win a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics after three blistering semi-finals.
Simbine qualified for for the 100m final with a run of 9.87, which was good enough to win heat 2. However, it was only the fifth fastest time of the three semi-finals with Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson clocking 9.80 to go into Sunday night’s final as the hot favourite.
Thompson’s compatriot Oblique Seville clocked 9.81 in his heat to see off world champion Noah Lyles, who qualified for the final with a 9.83. American Fred Kerley was the fourth fastest man after running 9.84.
Simbine’s compatriot Benjamin Richardson finished third behind Thompson and Kerley, but his 9.95 wasn’t good enough to make the final. The other South African in the semi-finals, Shaun Maswanganyi, ran a 10.02, finishing fifth in his heat.
Botswana's Letsile Tebogo (9.91) finished second behind Simbine to qualify for the final.
Defending champion Marcell Jacobs qualified for the final after the Italian beat Kenny Bednarek from the United States to the third place in Simbine’s heat by a hundredth of a second in a season's best of 9.92.
Simbine’s personal best of 9.82 came in April 2021, and he may have to try and match that to win a medal. He ran a 9.86 two weeks before the Olympics when he ran Lyles close in London, so he has a quick time in the legs.
Simbine is desperate for a medal in Paris after a fifth-place finish at Rio 2016 and a fourth place in Tokyo in 2021.
At 9.50pm we’ll find out if his dream will finally come true. South Africans will certainly be holding thumbs.
Additional reporting by AFP
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