Akani Simbine misses out by 0.01 in Olympic 100m final

Sprinter Akani Simbine narrowly missed out again on Sunday night, as he was edged into fourth place in the men’s 100m final at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Simbine clocked 9.82 second, breaking his own South African record (9.84). He crossed the line just 0.01 behind American bronze medallist Fred Kerley (9.81), while world champion Noah Lyles of the US won gold in 9.79.

After he finished fifth at the 2016 Rio Games and fourth in Tokyo three years ago, it was the third successive Olympics that Simbine finished in the top five in the Olympic 100m final but did not earn a medal.

In the 100m semifinals, Benjamin Richardson ran well, clocking 9.95 seconds for third place in his heat, narrowly missing out on a spot in the final, while Shaun Maswanganyi was fifth in his race in a season’s best of 10.02.

Other events

In other events on Sunday, Prudence Sekgodiso finished second in her 800m heat in 1:57.57, progressing as one of the podium contenders to the final, which will be held at 9.45pm on Monday night.

Earlier yesterday, Rogail Joseph and Zeney Geldenhuys cruised into the women’s 400m hurdles semifinals.

Joseph was particularly impressive, finishing second in her first-round heat and setting a personal best of 54.56 seconds. Geldenhuys also looked to be in control in her heat, finishing third in 54.73, and they will both turn out in the semifinals of their specialist event tomorrow evening.

Elsewhere on the 10th day of competition at the Paris Games yesterday, golfer Chistiaan Bezuidenhout finished on 10-under par to take 16th position in the men’s tournament.

Bezuidenhout was nine shots off the pace of American player Scottie Scheffler, who secured the gold medal.

Erik van Rooyen, the only other SA player taking part, was one stroke behind Bezuidenhout on nine-under, in 17th place.

Meanwhile, in the women’s road cycling race, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio finished 33rd, five minutes behind American rider Kristen Faulkner who won gold, while compatriot Tiffany Keep did not reach the finish of the 158km contest.

Coming up…

Looking ahead, former Olympic 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk lines up in the 200m heats at 7.55pm on Monday evening, alongside Maswanganyi and Richardson.

In other events, discus throwers Francois Prinsloo and Victor Hogan are in the qualifying rounds on Monday morning, and Miranda Coetzee is in the first-round heats in the women’s 400m sprint.

Triathletes Henri Schoeman, Jamie Riddle and Vicky van der Merwe will hope to put up a fight in the mixed triathlon relay, also taking place on Monday morning (8am), while Mel Janse van Rensburg (men’s lead & boulder) and Aniya Holder (women’s speed) open the nation’s campaign in sport climbing.