Akani Simbine once again showed that he means business in 2025 when he held off the challenge from Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson to win the 100m race at the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai on Saturday.
South African star Simbine was victorious in last week’s event in Xiamen, but that field didn’t include Jamaican speedster Thompson, who finished second to American Noah Lyles in the Paris Olympic final last year in the same time of 9.79 seconds.
Simbine finished fourth on that occasion with a new SA record of 9.82, but is determined to reach the podium this year at the world championships in Tokyo in September.
The 31-year-old already claimed a bronze medal in the 60m race at the world indoor championships in China in March – having also been part of the SA 4x100m relay team that clinched silver at the Paris Olympics.
Simbine, though, needed to prove his mettle against Thompson, and he came up trumps on Saturday.
Running in lane five, Simbine made a solid start, but was trailing Botswana’s 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo, who roared out of the blocks in lane three.
Tebogo was in the lead until the halfway mark, which is when Thompson in lane four edged ahead of the pack.
Tebogo held his shape, but without about 20 metres to go, Simbine put his foot down and went past his fellow southern African.
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱🇿🇦
Akani Simbine once again dips under 10 seconds this year with a time of 9.98 at #KeqiaoDL 🙌 pic.twitter.com/2BYHtjOE3M
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) May 3, 2025
It looked like Thompson was going to win, but just on the line, Simbine dipped and took the honours in a thrilling finish in 9.98 seconds.
Thompson was second in 9.99, followed by Tebogo in 10.03.
In the women’s javelin, South Africa’s Olympic silver medallist Jo-Ané du Plessis produced a better performance compared to last week in Xiamen to finish third.
Du Plessis was in the lead after two rounds with her best effort of 62.53m, but was then overtaken by Greece’s Elina Tzengko, who won with a 64.90m throw.
China’s Dai Qianqian finished second (64.38m), and Du Plessis ended third.
“I am very happy with today’s performance. It is my season’s best,” Du Plessis told the Diamond League website.
“I came here to try to push a bit further, and I think I achieved my goal.
“It is still early in the season. I am looking forward to moving further.
“I will go back to South Africa to continue my training programme, and then in two weeks, I will be in Tokyo for the competition there. I hope to achieve satisfying results there too.”
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Marioné Fourie will be satisfied with her performance as she equalled her fastest time of the year, 12.62 seconds.
The SA record-holder, who has a personal best of 12.49, finished third in her race, which was won by American Grace Stark in a new 2025 world lead of 12.42, with Danielle Williams of Jamaica second in 12.55.
In the men’s 400m, Lythe Pillay faced arguably the toughest field of his short career – which included Paris Olympic champion Quincy Jones and 2012 London gold medallist Kirani James – and the former world junior champion battled to keep up.
The SA star made a decent enough start in lane nine, positioning himself in fifth heading into the final straight.
But American Christopher Bailey caused a huge upset, storming to victory in a superb 44.17 seconds, which was also a new personal best.
Botswana duo Bayapo Ndori (44.32) and Busang Kebinatshipi (44.63) trailed in second and third, with James fading to fifth in 44.94, behind American Vernon Norwood (44.93).
Pillay kept going right until the end, but had to settle for seventh in 45.39 – although he managed to edge out Hall, whose season-opener resulted in a pedestrian 45.99.
