Akani Simbine agonisingly close to another big win

National record holder Akani Simbine narrowly missed out on another major scalp on Tuesday night, after being edged on the line by American sprinter Justin Gatlin in the 100m race at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial meeting in Hungary.

Simbine clocked 9.99 seconds, finishing 0.10 outside the SA mark he set on the same track last year.

He was just 0.01 behind Gatlin, a former world and Olympic champion.

The South African speedster also grabbed second spot in the men’s 200m event in 20.21, crossing the line 0.07 behind American Isiah Young.

Henricho Bruintjies was in good form but could not find a place on the podium, finishing fourth in the 100m dash in 10.11, while compatriots Carina Horn (11.21) and Alyssa Conley (11.41) were fourth and sixth respectively in the women’s short sprint.

In the men’s long jump, in-form African champion Ruswahl Samaai produced a winning leap of 8.34m, and countryman Khotso Mokoena ended fourth with a best attempt of 7.95m.

In other disciplines, Wenda Nel settled for fourth place in the women’s 400m hurdles in 55.83, Antonio Alkana grabbed fifth spot in the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.31, Lynique Prinsloo finished sixth in the long jump with a 6.34m leap and Jacob Rozani was eighth in the men’s 800m race in 1:47.27.

High jumper Chris Moleya crashed out without registering a mark, after failing at three attempts at his opening height of 2.15m.

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