South Africa’s Akini Simbine Misses Out On Medal In The 100m Final

South Africa sprinter Akini Simbine finished fourth in the men 100m final as Italy’s Marcell Jacobs took Olympic gold in 9.79 seconds on Sunday night.

Simbine, who is African record holder,  ran 9.93 seconds and was also beaten by USA’s  Fred Kerley and De Grasse Andre from Canada, in a race which, for first time in recent years, failed to have a Jamaican sprinter gracing the final.

Kerely bagged silver with a personal best time of 9.84 seconds while Andre took the bronze having also run a personal best of 9.89.

Simbine made to the final after surviving the semis where he posted a time of 9.90 making him as one of the two ‘fastest losers’.

This was Simbine’s second Olympic final, having finished fifth at Rio 2016.

The other African in the Tokyo 2020 final was Nigerian Enoch Adegoke, but failed to finish having limped off injured mid-way into the race.

All other Africans led by Fred Omanyala from Kenya and South Africa’s duo of Gift Leotlela and Shaun Maswanganyi were knocked out in their semi-finals.