Cape Town – Akani Simbine made a valiant effort, but it was not to be for the South African star in the men’s 100m final as Fred Kerley led a United States clean sweep at the world athletics championships in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday night (Sunday morning SA time).
Simbine had come close to grabbing a medal at the worlds before without success, but would’ve entered the final at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon with quiet confidence.
The 28-year-old had won the first semi-final earlier in the evening with a superb season’s best time of 9.97 seconds as he held off American Trayvon Bromell, who admittedly slowed down towards the end and clocked the same time.
But Simbine was up against four outstanding US sprinters in Kerley, Bromell, Marvin Bracy and defending champion Christian Coleman, so it was always going to be an uphill battle in their backyard.
Akani Simbine goes through to the 100m final at the @WCHoregon22!
Simbine wins the first semi-final in 9.97 seconds, just ahead of USA's Trayvon Bromell, who also posted 9.97
Men's 100m final is at 4.50am SA time@IOLsport @IOL #WorldAthleticsChamps #WCHOregon22 #Athletics
As it turned out, Simbine didn’t have the best of starts out of the blocks as it was Kerley who produced his trademark head-down style initially as Coleman sped into the lead in lane seven.
Bracy was in second place after the first 50 metres and then charged into the lead, and it looked like he would have enough to go all the way to the line.
But Kerley hit back, followed by Bromell in lane eight. The three Americans duelled it out right up to the finish line, and Kerley dipped just in time to claim the gold medal in a time of 9.86 seconds.
Bracy was awarded the silver and Bromell the bronze in the same 9.88 time.
Fred Kerley wins GOLD in the 100m final at @WCHoregon22!
— Ashfak Mohamed (@ashfakmohamed) July 17, 2022
Great run in 9.86 seconds
South Africa's Akani Simbine finishes fifth in 10.01
USA podium clean-sweep - Kerley (9.86) Marvin Bracy (9.88) Trayvon Bromell (9.88) @IOLsport #WCHOregon2022 #WorldAthleticsChamps #Athletics
Simbine recovered from his slow start, but could never make up the lost ground on the front four and had to settle for fifth position in 10.01, behind Jamaica’s Oblique Seville (9.97), with Coleman ending sixth in 10.01 as well.
It was a night to savour for the 27-year-old Kerley, who had moved down from his specialist 400m event, where he is the eighth-fastest in history with 43.64 – behind South African Wayde van Niekerk’s world record of 43.03 – a few years ago to the 100m in an attempt to get quicker in the one-lap race.
Kerley was a 400m bronze medallist at the 2019 world championships in Doha, but the shift to the short sprint has paid off handsomely as he secured a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, and is now the 100m world champion.
The Texan is also the sixth-fastest 100m athlete with a personal best of 9.76, a position he jointly holds with Coleman and Bromell.
100m final result
1 Fred Kerley (USA) 9.86
2 Marvin Bracy (USA) 9.88
3 Trayvon Bromell (USA) 9.88
4 Oblique Seville (Jamaica) 9.97
5 Akani Simbine (RSA) 10.01
6 Christian Coleman (USA) 10.01
7 Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Japan) 10.06
8 Aaron Brown (Canada) 10.07
@ashfakmohamed