by Deji Ogeyingbo
Akani Simbine Is Aging Like Fine Wine, and He’s Now Running Faster Than Ever
By the time most sprinters reach their late twenties, they’ve either hung up their spikes or are inching toward the edges of major finals, hanging on to flashes of brilliance that once came with ease. Akani Simbine isn’t most sprinters. Yes, there are a few exceptions—like Justin Gatlin, Asafa Powell, and the great Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce—but it’s almost unheard of to see sprinters improve as they get older.
At 30, the South African is doing what many thought unlikely, he’s not just holding form; he’s getting faster, sharper, and more focused than ever.
Simbine opened his Diamond League season in Xiamen, China, where he won the first men’s 100m 9.99s. On a stacked track featuring the likes of Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo and former World Champion Christian Coleman, Simbine stood tall. He finished ahead of Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala (10.13) and Britain’s Jeremiah Azu (10.17), while Tebogo was pushed back to seventh with a time of 10.20.
Two weeks ago, the South African made headlines at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Gaborone, Botswana, clocking 9.90s into a stiff -1.4 m/s headwind. It is still the fastest 100m time in the world at this point, but it wasn’t just the time that caught attention, it was the way he did it. He calmly held off Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, Africa’s record-holder, whom he has gotten the better of late.
It was a special moment in more ways than one. By dipping under 10 seconds yet again, Simbine extended his remarkable streak of sub-10 second performances to 10 consecutive years, becoming the first man in history to achieve that feat. No other sprinter has consistently stayed at the very top end of sprinting’s golden benchmark for so long.
It was another powerful reminder: Simbine is not done. In fact, he might just be entering his best chapter yet.
I still remember sitting down with him last year for an in-depth interview. He spoke, almost quietly, about the deep scars missing the 100m podium at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics left on his mental health, and how it inevitably seeped into his performances in 2022 when he lost both his African and Commonwealth titles to Omanyala.
For over a decade, Simbine has been South Africa’s poster boy in the 100m. His breakthrough came at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he finished fifth in the final. Since then, he’s become a fixture in global sprinting, making every Olympic or World Championship 100m final from 2016 until 2022. The only exception? Budapest 2023, when a false start ended his campaign in the semifinals.
That heartbreak could have derailed him. So, too, could the agonizing fourth-place finish at Tokyo in 2021, missing an Olympic medal by hundreds of a second. For a while, it almost did.
But he didn’t walk away. He kept showing up. That same resilience was on full display when he ran a personal best of 9.82s at the 2024 Paris Olympics—arguably the best race of his life—only to, once again, finish fourth. Another sting. Another test of resolve.
Still, he pushed on. And then came March 2025, indoors, in Nanjing. Simbine, not often seen as a short-sprint specialist, stormed through the 60m field to win bronze at the World Indoor Championships—his first individual global medal.
It’s easy to overlook what Simbine has done. He’s a seven-time South African Champion, a serial sub-10 runner, and a global finalist who’s beaten some of the biggest names in sprinting. And yet, he often flies under the radar in conversations about the greats.
Maybe that’s because Simbine’s greatness isn’t loud. It’s measured, consistent, and quietly relentless.. He’s also found a sense of peace that only a few ever reach. Whether it’s the calm way he lines up at meets or the easy confidence in how he handles pressure, Simbine has learned to enjoy the sport again.
As the 2025 season builds toward another World Championships in Tokyo, the spotlight will inevitably fall on the new generation of sprinters. But Simbine isn’t concerned. He knows who he is. He’ll keep showing up. Keep racing. Keep winning.
