By Razeen Gutta
SA 100-metre star Akani Simbine lost his first race of the season, finishing third at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Hungary on Tuesday.
In 2021, Simbine ran the race in 9:84, breaking the South African record of 9.89 seconds which he himself set in 2016.
This time around, his time of 10:01 was bettered by Jamaican champion Kishane Thompson (9:91) and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (9:99).
Simbine, who will carry the South African flag at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, saw his anxiousness get the better of him as he broke too soon.
That resulted in the race being restarted, bringing back memories of last year’s World Championships in Budapest where he was disqualified in the semi-final.
Once proceedings got back underway, Simbine started well but fell short in the final parts as the leaders got into their stride.
In other results, Lythe Pillay came third in the men’s 400-metre with a time of 45:24, while Zakithi Nene got fourth spot in 45:45.
Steve Gardiner from the Bahamas won in 44:50, with Jamaica’s Sean Bailey in 44:64 coming in second.
Zeney Geldenhuys finished second in the women’s 400-metre race with a time of 54:86 while Brian Raats claimed second place in the men’s high jump at 2.24-metres.
Pictured above: Akani Simbine.
Source: @mzansi_trust
