Latest news with #WorldAthleticsRelayChampionships
eNCA
17-05-2025
- Sport
- eNCA
Team SA qualify for world athletics champs
Akani Simbine of South Africa competes during the Men's 4x100 Metres Relay qualifying round 1 at the World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 2025 in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, May 10, 2025. DURBAN - South Africa is celebrating the success of its athletes at the World Athletics Relay Championships in Guangzhou, China and having qualified for the World Athletics Championship in Tokyo later this year. WATCH | World Athletics relays | Team SA tops medal table To answer these questions, we spoke with athletics coach Chris White.
IOL News
12-05-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Akani Simbine's tricky journey to the World Championships: Can he maintain his form?
South Africa's Akani Simbine celebrates after leading the country's 4x100m relay team to gold in the World Athletics Relay Championships in Guangzhou, China. Image: Song Yanhua / Xinhua via AFP Akani Simbine has been in red-hot form and is currently up there as one of the fastest men on the planet. The South African sprint king ran another blistering anchor leg to guide the country's 4x100 team to victory at the World Relay Championships in Guangzhou, China on Sunday. This follows his sparkling run to help the team claim the silver medal at last year's Paris Olympic Games. Simbine hauled in American Brandon Hicklin after receiving the baton, using his great finishing speed to bring glory to South Africa. There is no official time for his leg, but he may have dipped under the nine-second mark from that running start. Simbine has run a few sub-10 races in the 100m this season, storming to victory in 9.90 in a race in Botswana before winning two Diamond League events in China, blitzing a fields that included 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo, American speedster Christian Coleman, 60m world indoor champion Jeremiah Azu of Britain and Olympic silver medalist Kishane Thompson. Speaking after the relay semi-finals on Sunday, Simbine lifted the lid on his wonderful form this year. "It's just a lot of happiness. I'm very content with my career and my running and where it is at," Simbine said. "I'm enjoying the sport, being able to travel the world and just run." The 31-year-old Simbine's big focus this year is on the World Championships to be held in Tokyo, Japan from September 13-21. He is probably wishing the big athletics event could take place next week, instead of four months' time. The concern with Simbine has always been peaking too early because the South African season starts a lot earlier than the one in the United States and Europe because of our end-of-year summer season. His preparation is totally different to his Northern Hemisphere rivals, who work towards being at their peak by the end of their summer. Essentially, Simbine needs to stay at his peak a lot longer than others because of the situation. However, he showed at last year's Olympic Games that he can keep his best performances for the Northern Hemisphere summer when he narrowly missed out on the medal in the final of the 100m, running a new South African record of 9.82 in the most closely contested 100m race of all time. He made up for that disappointment when he led the SA 4X100m team to the silver a few days later, but he will be desperate to get onto the podium in Japan. Simbine is definitely in the best shape of his life and running fast, but at his age he will have to pace himself over the next four months to maintain that speed heading into the world championships. It's going to be another tough ask, but he has shown that he has the mental fortitude to take on the challenge. That never say die spirit, which we saw at the Olympics and Sunday's 100m relay final rubber stamps that statement. @JohnGoliath82
New Straits Times
30-04-2025
- Sport
- New Straits Times
German sprint stars storm into KL for Merdeka test
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's top sprinters will get a rare chance to test themselves against Germany's finest at the Cahya Mata Super Series at Merdeka Stadium this weekend. The German squad, using Malaysia as a training base ahead of next month's World Athletics Relay Championships in Guangzhou, will be led by Owen Ansah, the first German to break the 10-second barrier in the 100m. Ansah clocked 9.99s at the German Championships in Braunschweig last June, and will line up in both the 100m and 4x100m relay. Joining him are fellow speedsters Lucas Ansah-Peprah (PB 10.00), Yannick Wolf (10.08) and Julian Wagner (10.11), all set to compete in both the individual sprint and relay events. It will be an ideal benchmark for local stars Khairul Hafiz Jantan, Jonathan Nyepa, Pengiran Aidil Auf Hajam, and Malaysia Games champion Danish Iftikhar Roslee, as they aim to match up against elite opposition. The German men's and women's teams have been training in Malaysia for the past three weeks as part of their final preparations for the World Relays in China on May 10-11. In the women's 100m, national record holder Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli (PB 11.49) will face a strong field, including Germany's top sprinter Sina Mayer, who holds the national record at 11.25. She will be joined by Sophia Junk, Rebekka Haase and Lisa Mayer, who are also slated to run in both the individual and relay events. Malaysia Athletics technical director John Ballard said the meet, which kicks off the local athletics season, will offer invaluable experience. "It's a great opportunity for our sprinters to line up against top-tier athletes from Germany," said Ballard. "Our runners are using this competition as part of their build-up for the Asian Championships in Gumi, South Korea from May 27-31." However, in a strategic move, the German men's sprinters will only run in the 100m semi-finals and sit out the final, in a bid to conserve energy for the World Relays. "The Germans will also field two teams each in the men's and women's 4x100m relays at this weekend's meet," added the Australian coach.
