Akani Simbine squares off with Fred Kerley as 10-strong SA contingent tackle Rabat Diamond League

The Star

24-05-2025

Ashfak Mohamed | Published 3 hours ago
Akani Simbine has enjoyed unprecedented success since, but missing out on a medal in last year's 100m Olympic final must still hurt.
Now he has a chance to avenge that result when he squares off with American star Fred Kerley in Sunday's Diamond League meeting in Rabat – where there will be a 10-strong South African contingent competing.
Simbine produced his best ever effort in the Paris Olympic final, clocking a new South African record of 9.82 seconds.
But he was pipped to the bronze medal by the tall figure of Kerley, who ran 9.81 to clinch third position in the fastest ever Olympic title decider.
Another American, Noah Lyles, grabbed the gold medal in an astonishing finish ahead of Jamaican Kishane Thompson, with both men being credited with 9.79 times – Lyles winning by five one-thousandths of a second.
Kerley's personal best is 9.76, and he will hope to shake off a difficult 2025 for him so far – which has included a few brushes with police – and begin his build-up to September's world championships in Tokyo with a sub-10-second performance in Rabat, Morocco.
But it is Simbine who is unbeaten in four 100m races this year, and who holds the world lead of 9.90 in 2025.
The 31-year-old Olympic relay silver medallist, who claimed a 60m world indoor championships bronze medal in China in March, was victorious just last weekend in Atlanta, when he ran a quick, but wind-assisted 9.86.
Apart from Kerley, 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo – who finished sixth in the Paris 100m final with a Botswana record of 9.86 – will also contest the short sprint in Rabat.
Simbine will have 4x100m Olympic relay teammate Shaun Maswanganyi for company on Sunday as well.
Maswanganyi began his international season last week at the Doha Diamond League event in the 200m, where he finished seventh with a 20.78 time.
But he will be building up his form gradually in order to qualify in both the 100m and 200m for the world championships, and with a personal best of 9.91, he will hope to be pushed by the likes of Simbine, Kerley, Tebogo and Kenyan star Ferdinand Omanyala to a much quicker time.
Tebogo and Kerley will be doubling up by doing the 200m in Rabat, where there will be two South Africans in the field as well in the shape of Wayde van Niekerk and Benjamin Richardson.
Van Niekerk had a promising outing in Atlanta last weekend in a straight 200m, finishing third in a time of 20.03, and he will be keen to break through the 20-second barrier in a top-class line-up.
In the 400m, the in-form Zakithi Nene, who posted a superb personal best of 44.22 recently, will have his work cut out for him when he faces Olympic champion Quincy Hall in Rabat.
Another American, Jacory Patterson, as well as Canada's Christopher Morales Williams and Botswana's Bayapo Ndori, all boast faster personal bests than Nene, which could push the SA champion to greater heights on Sunday.
In the 1,500m, Tshepo Tshite will be eager to break through the 3:31 barrier, having set a brilliant personal best of 3:32.03 this year, with Johan Cronjé's SA record of 3:31.93 well within reach.
On the women's front, Olympic silver medallist Jo-Ané du Plessis will want to get closer to her personal best of 64.22m, having thrown a 2025 best of 62.53m.
Olympic 800m finalist Prudence Sekgodiso will face a tough field at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, with the lady to beat being Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma, who set an outstanding personal best of 1:56.64 this year.
The other two South Africans on the track will be 400m hurdlers Zeney Geldenhuys and Rogail Joseph, who will take on Dutch star Femke Bol.