South African sprinter, Akani Simbine has given himself the best birthday gift for his 100m win at the Diamond League meeting in Rome on Thursday night.
The Commonwealth Games champion, who turns 27 on Monday, completed his European season with a fourth consecutive victory by clocking an excellent time of 9.96 seconds to hold off fellow African athlete Arthur Cissé, of Ivory Coast with 10.04 seconds and Fillipo Tortu with 10.09 seconds.
Cissé stormed out of the blocks and was well in the lead going into the final 50 meters, but Simbine put his foot down and caught up with his rival, eventually winning fairly comfortably in the end, as the Ivorian took second spot in 10.04.
The South African couldn’t emulate his season’s best of 9.91, but considering the disrupted season due to the coronavirus, he will be delighted with his 9.96 performance at the Olympic Stadium, a considerable improvement on his 10.02 in Switzerland earlier this week with the keen determination towards the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
