Johannesburg – Sprinter Akani Simbine set a new African record 9.84 seconds in the 100m to win at the Gyulai István Memorial World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet in Székesfehérvár, Hungary on Tuesday, reports olympics.com
Simbine comfortably breezed home with the aid of a decent tailwind (+1.2 m/s), finishing well ahead of second-placed Michael Rodgers of the United States (10.00).
The 27-year-old took five hundredths off his previous personal best on the same track from 2016, and broke Olusoji Fasuba’s previous continental mark of 9.85 set in Qatar in 2006.
The men’s 400m final was set to be a possible preview of the Tokyo 2020 final, but defending Olympic champion and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk did not take to the start line.
World champion Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas won the race in 44.47 seconds, with the United States’ Bryce Deadmon and Michael Norman second and third.
Earlier, Canada’s Andre de Grasse pipped American Kenneth Bednarek at the line in the men’s 200m A-race, with de Grasse clocking 19.97, two-hundredths ahead of Bednarek.
Turkey’s Cuban-born Yasmani Copello the men’s 400m hurdles bronze medallist at Rio 2016, was more than seven-tenths clear of the rest of the field to win that event in 48.35, while Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson won the women’s 200m (21.96), shortly after her counterpart Elaine Thompson-Herah had taken the women’s 100m in 10.71 from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.82).
World leaders Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico (12.34) and USA’s Grant Holloway (13.08) won the women’s and men’s 100m/110m hurdles respectively; Daniel Stahl of Sweden also won the men’s discus without threatening his world-leading mark.
Meanwhile, new world leads were set in the men’s high jump by Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus at 2.37m and in the men’s triple jump by Portugal’s Pedro Pichrdo (17.92m).
The women’s 400m hurdles was narrowly won by Femke Bol (52.81) ahead of Shamier Little.
Previously on Monday, Anita Wlodarczyk took the women’s hammer competition with a best of 74.76m. – olympics.com
Also read: Special drive by memorial to be held for Mutodi Neheshe
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