Akani Simbine will hope to crown his finest season in his illustrious career with another triumph in the Diamond League final in Brussels tonight.
The South African 100m record-holder will take on a stellar field at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme meeting (8.17pm SA time), with all but one of the runners boasting a season’s best below 10 seconds.
Simbine’s main rival for the Diamond League title will be American powerhouse Fred Kerley, who pipped the South African to a bronze medal in the Olympic 100m final last month.
Kerley ran a season’s best 9.81 seconds at the Stade de France in Paris to hold off Simbine, who clocked a new SA record of 9.82.
It was yet another close call in missing out on a podium finish, but Simbine finally broke that bogey by leading the SA 4x100m relay team to a silver medal at the Olympics in fine style – alongside Bayanda Walaza, Bradley Nkoana and Shaun Maswanganyi.
The 30-year-old speedster took a few weeks off after Paris, and made his comeback to the track in Berlin on September 1, running 10.00 to finish second, and then he came second once more in 10.04 in Bellinzona, Switzerland this past Monday, where he trailed behind Jamaican sprinter Ackeem Blake (9.96).
Blake will also be in the 100m field tonight, but Simbine will hope to give himself an early birthday present – he turns 31 on September 21 – by having to watch out for American star Christian Coleman, who boasts a blistering personal best of 9.76, while Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme and Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sani Brown will be vying for podium spots as well.
The other South African in action will be women’s 800m queen Prudence Sekgodiso.
The 22-year-old middle-distance star from Limpopo had a successful Olympics as well, going all the way to the final, where she was hoping to grab a medal.
But while she finished eighth and last in a time of 1:58.79, she could be proud of her efforts in her first Olympic Games.
Sekgodiso won’t be overawed by the Diamond League stage tonight (9.40pm SA time), though, having already pulled off some excellent victories this season, most notably in Rabat.
She will be aiming to improve her personal best of 1:57.26, and with Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson out injured, Sekgodiso’s main competition will come from Paris bronze medallist Mary Moraa of Kenya, and British star Jemma Reekie, who boasts the fastest time in the field of 1:55.61.
Moraa was victorious in last week’s race in Zurich in a time of 1:57.08, with Sekgodiso sixth in 1:58.90.