South Africa's Akani Simbine in action during round one, heat two of the Men’s 100m at the Commonwealth Games at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham on Tuesday South Africa's Akani Simbine in action during round one, heat two of the Men’s 100m at the Commonwealth Games at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham on Tuesday. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters
Cape Town — It was a mixed bag for Team South Africa during the opening athletics session at the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday, with sprinter Akani Simbine leading the way.
Team SA were struck by Covid-19 before the start of the morning session at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, with the men’s 4x100m relay squad most affected.
Clarence Munyai and Emile Erasmus (4x100m relay) and Kyle Rademeyer (pole vault) had to pull out of the event after contracting Covid-19.
#B2022Athletics:#TeamSA Akani Simbine wins his heat with a time of 10.10. #CommonwealthGames #B2022 pic.twitter.com/Zg6Hn5MUVu
— Team South Africa (@TeamSA2024) August 2, 2022
Another athlete, 400m runner Zakhiti Nene, showed Covid-19 symptoms as well, and will have to undergo another test before a decision is made on his participation.
Simbine, though, was able to run, and he cruised to victory in the second 100m heat on Tuesday in a time of 10.10 seconds to go through to Wednesday’s semi-finals.
The 28-year-old, who is the defending champion from Gold Coast 2018, took a while to get going out of the blocks, but once he was into his stride, he won by a considerable margin from the second-placed Jake Doran of Australia (10.39).
In the men’s long jump qualification, SA’s Jovan van Vuuren produced a best leap of 7.87m to end third and advance to the final behind India’s Sreeshankar Sreeshankar (8.05m), and Laquan Nairn (Bahamas, 7.90m).
There was disappointment for young 800m star Prudence Sekgodiso, though. The 20-year-old world championship semi-finalist was caught up in a tactical race in her heat, and missed out on advancing to the semi-finals on Tuesday after finishing third in 2:00.17.
In the women’s 100m T37/38 category, South Africa’s Sheryl James made it through to Wednesday’s final with a time of 13.53, which is a new African record.
IOL Sport
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