Former African record holder, Akani Simbine and reigning World U20 champion, Letsile Tebogo, believe they are on the right track as far as their preparations go for the Paris 2024 Olympics after impressing at the London Diamond League meeting last Saturday.
Simbine ran 9.86, just two hundredth of a second off his lifetime best (9.84) while Tebogo set a new 9.88 personal best.
“I’m happy with today’s performance, I’ve run a season’s best. I think we’ve got the time right now and so it’s time to fix up a little bit of the race ahead of the Olympics. It feels good and I’m happy with my race.
“This is a huge confidence ahead of the Games, knowing the shape I’m in right now and knowing what we need to work on just in the last week.
I’m feeling good going into the Games and I’m excited for it,” says Simbine who has finished fourth and fifth in the event at the last two Olympics.
Tebogo is also feeling great ahead of the Games and will feel confident he can make the final and win a medal like she did last year at the World Athletics Championships.
“I’m feeling great, we’re on the right track for the Olympics. Now I’m heading back to the camp in Paris to work out the final touches for the Olympics,” said the 21 year old Tebogo.
The duo and Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala will be seeking to deliver Africa’s first Olympic 100m gold in the history of the Games.
Since 1996 when Frankie Fredericks of Namibia won the second of his two Olympic Games silver medals in the men’s 100m, African sprinters have failed to make it to the podium.
The nearest any African sprinter has come was Simbine’s fourth place finish three years ago in Tokyo, Japan, five years after he ended up in fifth place in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
