By Thathe Msimango
Akani Simbine and Zeney van der Walt were the big winners at the Athletics South Africa (ASA) awards ceremony on Friday at the Thaba Eco Estate in Johannesburg.
Simbine was named the ASA’s male athlete of the year and Van der Walt the female athlete of the year.
Simbine, who is the fastest South African 100m runner with the personal best of 9.84 seconds, had a good year in 2022 collecting a silver medal during the African Athletics Championship in Mauritius. He was edged by Ferdinand Omanyala in a close race as both sprinters clocked 9.93 seconds in a photo finish.
He also won the 100m silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England and finished fifth overall at the World Athletics Championship.
Van der Walt had a season to remember. The 22-year-old hurdles specialist scooped two gold medals for the 400m hurdles and in the 4×400m relay at the African Athletics Championships. She also managed to reach the World Athletics Championship semi-finals in Oregon in the United States.
“It was an amazing year. We were blessed,” Van der Walt told The Top Runner.
“I learnt a lot during the races and during the whole year of competition.”
Both runners won R50,000 in cash at the ASA awards as well as two business class tickets to any of Qatar Airways’ more than 150 destinations worldwide.
Meanwhile, the World U20 Championships gold medalists Miné de Klerk and Lythe Pillay won the U20 Athletes of the Year. Simbine’s coach Werner Prinsloo was named Coach of the Year.
Pictured above: Wandile Ndawo
Image source : ORCAS Academy
