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Pretoria - South African sprint records are falling left, right, and centre with Pretoria speedster Akani Simbine adding his name to the record books after equalling the men’s 100m record at the World Student Games in Gwangju, South Korea on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, Simbine posted a new Student Games record in a time of 10.00 seconds before winning the final in a time of 9.97 to share the national record with Henrico Bruintjies.
Jamaica’s Kemarley Brown crossed the line in second place with a time of 10.12 with Ramil Guliyev of Turkey bagging bronze in 10.16.
“I am very happy with the run, I just kept focussed and told myself to get though all my phases and when I get to the 60m I am going to power through,” said Simbine, who is a Tuks-HPC sponsored athlete.
“I just told myself to stay relaxed and get through the race, and I didn’t focus on the time much.
“My goal was just to go and win the medal and I did that.”
Simbine follows in the footsteps of Olympic finalist Anaso Jobodwana, who completed the 100-200m sprint double in Kazan, Russia in 2013.
Equalling the record comes only four days after Bruintjies set a new national mark by shaving 0.01 off the record Simon Magakwe set in 2014 in Pretoria.
A week ago Simbine became only the second South African to dip below 10 seconds in the 100m at a European permit meeting in Slovenia with his 9.99 time which was 0.1 off the previous record before Bruintjies followed suit in Switzerland on Sunday.
