Another heartbreak for SA’s Akani Simbine after USA’s Noah Lyles claims 100m Olympic crown

Runners at the start of the men’s 100m final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, at the Stade de France stadium in Saint Denis on 4 August 2024. Noah Lyles (third left) of the USA won the race. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Anna Szilagyi)

By Keanan Hemmonsbey

5 Aug 2024

SA’s Akani Simbine finished fourth for the second consecutive Olympic Games as the American Noah Lyles claimed the gold medal in the men’s 100m sprint.

The USA’s Noah Lyles won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s 100m sprint on Sunday night in a photo finish with a time of 9.79 seconds, a mere five-thousandth of a second quicker than Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson.

men 100m olympics simbine lyles thomson Noah Lyles (left) of the USA wins ahead of Kishane Thompson (right) of Jamaica in the Men’s 100m final. South Africa’s Akani Simbine (second right) earned fourth place. (Photo: EPA-EFE /Ronald Wittek)

Lyles became the first American men’s Olympic 100m champion in 20 years, since Justin Gatlin in 2004 at the Athens Games.

South Africa’s Akani Simbine placed fourth for a second Olympic Games in a row, coming in at 9.82 — a national record. He was just pipped at the line by the USA’s Fred Kerley, claiming his second Olympic 100m medal after his silver in Tokyo.

Lyles was slow out of the blocks and Thompson led from the start, but Lyles’ top-end speed took him past several athletes to clinch the victory with his final stride over the finish line.

men 100m olympics Runners at the start of the Men’s 100m final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France stadium in Saint Denis on 4 August 2024. Noah Lyles (third left) of the USA won the race. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Anna Szilagyi)

Because of the tightness of the race, there were no immediate celebrations at the conclusion amid uncertainty over the winner. Eventually, Lyles was announced as the winner at the Stade de France.

On hearing the announcement, the flamboyant American, who claimed a bronze medal in the 200m in Tokyo, ripped the racing bib off his running vest and displayed his name in front of the raucous crowd.

It was a fast race, with eighth-placed Oblique Seville clocking 9.91 — the fastest time for a man finishing last in an Olympic final.

For Simbine — who was fifth in the event in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 – it was more heartbreak, despite him breaking his own national record. His time of 9.82 would have been enough for a podium place at the last two Olympic Games.

It was the sixth time he had finished fourth or fifth at a major championship.

“I know a lot of South Africans were watching me,” Simbine said after the race. “The Springboks won [the Rugby World Cup] in this stadium.

“It’s one of those things that are a moment of history. No South African has ever been in three Olympic finals and placed higher than me.

“I’m the one that’s doing this for the first time for every South African and that’s a great thing on its own.

“I might not be getting the [Olympic] medals but what I’m doing is changing how sprinting is seen in South Africa.”

South Africans shine

Simbine came into the final confident after winning his semifinal in a time of 9.87 and his heat in 10.03.

Compatriots Benjamin Richardson and Shaun Maswanganyi also reached the semifinals, which will give the 4x100m team confidence in the relay event.

Richardson was third in heat three of the semifinals in a time of 9.95. It was the first time in Olympic history that a time that fast was not enough to qualify for the 100m final.

“We’re not done yet, we’re coming back in the relay,” said Simbine.

“We have three good guys that were in the semis, I was in the final… We have another shot in the relay and we’re going to go for it.”

In the women’s 800m semis, South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso qualified comfortably for Monday night’s final after finishing second in her heat in a time of 1:57.57.

Sekgodiso was second behind the favourite for the gold medal, Keely Hodgkinson from Great Britain. Sekgodiso’s time was the third-fastest in the three semifinals. DM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw5xlvbiBPI

Categories:

Tags:

DM is much better if you are signed in...

South Africa

South Africans shine