Akani Simbine
At a glance
- Sport: Athletics – Sprint
- Country: South Africa
- Date of Birth: September 21, 1993
About the athlete
Stocky and explosive, South African sprinter Akani Simbine first made heads turn as a teenager. Akani has since shattered multiple barriers, lifting the coveted crown as South Africa’s fastest man. Simbine burst onto the international scene in 2013, competing in the 100m event at the World Championships. While an information science studentat the University of Pretoria, he equaled the South African National Record with his Gold Medal performance at the 2015 Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea. He then broke that same record with a time of 9.89 seconds at the Gyulai István Memorial in Székesfehérvár in 2016.
Since then, he has continued to compete at the highest level. He represented South Africa at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, finishing fifth in the 100m Final, and was the Commonwealth Games 100m champion with a Gold Medal in 2018. Competed once again at the Commonwealth Games in 2022, winning Silver in the 100m. Akani returned to the Olympic Games at the Tokyo games in 2020 where he finished fourth in the Men’s 100m.
Simbine remains one of South Africa’s brightest track stars and the three-time National Champion (twice in the 100m and once in the 200m) is on track to achieve more success at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Notable achievements
- 2022 Commonwealth Games – Silver Medal (100m)
- 2019 World Relay Championships — Silver Medal (4x200m Relay)
- 2018 African Championships — 2 Gold Medals (100m and 4x100m Relay)
