Athletics
SA athlete makes history
2012-12-12 22:43
Cape Town - Little known 19-year-old sprinter Akani Simbine has surprised the athletics fraternity by setting a new South African junior 100m record.
According to the
Beeld website, Simbine rewrote the record books for juniors by running 10.19 seconds over 100 metres at the Zone 6 event in Lusaka, Zambia. The previous record was 10.30, set by Wilhelm van der Vyver in 2008.
It is the third fastest time for junior athletes in the world this year, with only Britain's Adam Gemili (10.05) and America's Aaron Ernest (10.17) posting better times in 2012.
What makes the achievement all the more remarkable is the fact that Simbine's previous best time was 10.55 seconds.
"It was one of the biggest surprises," said Danie Cornelius, the SA team's manager at the event.
Cornelius assured that the electronic time measuring equipment was "100%" accurate.
Simbine, who also took a drugs test after the race, himself admitted he was stunned by the result. "I'm still busy with by pre-season programme and I'm far from my best," he said.
He also won the 200m event in 20.68 on Wednesday.