Claiming a silver medal at last year’s Paris Olympics heralded a new era in South African sprinting, and they hope to go for gold at this year’s world championships.
But having achieved amazing success in the French capital, the road to the global event in Tokyo in September for Team South Africa will start this weekend at the World Relays in Guangzhou, China.
Top of the medal chase for SA will be the men’s 4x100m group, which will be led by Akani Simbine, and he will be supported by fellow Paris medallists Bayanda Walaza and Bradley Nkoana, as well as Sinesipho Dambile, Retshidisitswe Mlenga and Tsebo Matsoso.
The men’s 4x400m team includes current SA champion Zakithi Nene – who clocked a new personal best of 44.22 recently – as well as world junior 400m champion Udeme Okon, former world junior winner Lythe Pillay, Gardeo Isaacs, Tumisang Shezi and Mthi Mthimkulu.
The women’s 4x400m squad will be made up of Miranda Coetzee, Zeney Geldenhuys, Hannah van Niekerk, Shirley Nekhubui, Precious Molepo and Jada van Staden.
Isaacs, Coetzee and Nekhubui will compete in the mixed 4x400m event, along with junior star Leendert Koekemoer.
Simbine secured his first ever global individual medal in the 60m at the world indoor championships in China in March, and hopes to continue with his impressive season at the World Relays.
He beat 100m Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson in a tight finish in the Diamond League meeting in Keqiao, China last weekend in a time of 9.98 seconds, and his season’s best effort is 9.90, which is the 2025 world lead.
“Getting the individual medal was an important thing. It was important for my career and my confidence,” Simbine said during a press conference in China on Friday.
“But at the same time, I look at my career as just a statement of what athletics is: never giving up on your dreams, and always pushing to the finish line.
“For me, it’s always been about showing up, starting the season, and always trying to be the best I can in that season.
“Yes, I’ve been always coming fourth and falling short, but that has never taken away from the experience of what I want to do in the sport – that is improving myself and becoming a better athlete.
“Becoming the best sprinter I can become. In that, comes the medals, and to be able to run consistently at a high level over 11 years. That was the important thing in my career.”
But the 31-year-old SA record-holder, who finished fourth in the 100m Paris Olympic final with a new national mark of 9.82, is keen to help develop the next generation.
Walaza is the 100m and 200m world junior champion, and the 19-year-old will hope to pick up some tips from Simbine as he takes in the experience of running in China.
“It was very important for us, as we actually believed that we could win – that we could come out with a medal,” Simbine said.
“That was something that was over years that we were building. We always believed we had a team that could get a medal, but it was just that we couldn’t put it together.
“Last year was the one time we could actually finish a relay and put it together, and a medal came out of it.
“It was really great to be part of a team that brings an Olympic medal to South Africa, but also for me personally, to see the next generation of South African sprinters coming through, and being a spearhead of that and being a motivator for that…
“That is very important, because now the young guys are able to do it with me. They are able to see and learn from me, and take little bits of experience that I’ve gained over the years.
“Try to be better athletes, try to take South African athletics forward.”
Team SA will start their World Relays campaign on Saturday with the 4x400m mixed relay heat (1.52pm SA time), followed by the men’s 4x100m heat (2.32pm) and men’s 4x400m heat (3.23pm).
