Akani Simbine underlined his class as he obliterated friend and Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk to regain the South African 100m crown in Potchefstroom on Friday night. There were fears that the chilly evening air that descended on the McArthur stadium on day one of the South African Senior Athletics Championships might freeze out sub-10 times‚ but Simbine rocketed across the track to win in 9.95sec. That was just one-hundredth of a second slower than he did in the afternoon semifinals‚ and it was his fifth sub-10 of the season so far and the 12th of his career. It warmed the crowd who packed out the grandstand to watch the greatest generation of South African male sprinters‚ not to mention javelin star Sunette Viljoen and Caster Semenya. It was cold enough for Van Niekerk’s coach‚ Tannie Ans Botha‚ to instruct her charge to hold back on his start to ensure he didn’t risk injury. The 400m Olympic and world champion‚ who is going for a double with the 200m at the world championshi...
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