Akani Simbine carries SA relay team into Olympic final

The South African 4x100m relay team kept their medal hopes alive, clocking the second-fastest time in the men’s first-round heats at the Paris Olympics on Thursday morning.

Akani Simbine produced a superb anchor leg, and he was well supported by Shaun Maswanganyi and junior athletes Bayanda Walaza and Bradley Nkoana, as they took second place in their first-round heat in 37.94 seconds.

Only the United States, who won the same heat in 37.47, went quicker in the opening round.

“Right now, I think we are in a really good position for tomorrow and we’re looking forward to racing,” Simbine said.

“Today was just about qualifying and we did that. Tomorrow we just need to clean up everything and make sure we have good baton exchanges and just get the job done.”

The SA squad will line up among the favourites for the 4x100m final to be held on Friday night (7.47pm).

Other events

Meanwhile, in the women’s 100m hurdles repechage, SA record holder Marione Fourie won her race in 12.79 seconds, progressing to the semifinals to be held on Friday.

In the qualifying round of the women’s shot put, Mine de Klerk produced a 15.63m heave with her best attempt, finishing 31st. She was eliminated ahead of the final.

Vincent shines

Elsewhere on day 13 of the Paris Games, diver Julia Vincent delivered a stunning performance to take sixth position in the women’s 3m springboard semifinals with 297.30 points.

Vincent will return to the pool for the final to be held at 3pm on Friday.

There was no such fortune, however, for climber Lauren Mukheibir was 20th in the women’s lead semifinals and did not progress to the final.