Akani Simbine breaks African 100m record

Akani Simbine flaunted his form ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, rocketing across the line in a new South African record at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial meeting in Hungary on Tuesday night.

Simbine, among the medal contenders in the 100m sprint for the quadrennial Games, won the short dash in 9.84 seconds.

He dominated the race against a strong field, finishing well clear of American athlete Michael Rodgers, a former silver medallist in the 60m event at the World Indoor Championships, who finished second in 10.00.

Simbine, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, ripped 0.05 off his own national best which had been set on the same track in Hungary in July 2016, shortly before he finished fifth at the Rio Olympics.

He also clipped 0.01 off the African 100m record of 9.85 which had been held by Nigerian athlete Olusoji Fasuba for more than 15 years.

The 27-year-old South African went on to win the 200m ‘B’ race in 20.25.

While his countryman Wayde van Niekerk was expected to run the 400m race, he withdrew ahead of the event, raising questions about his fitness after recovering from a serious knee injury in the build-up to the Tokyo Games.