Akani Simbine produced another performance that puts his name with the elite 100m sprinters in the world when he stopped the clock in 9.96 seconds in the Diamond League meeting in Rome on Thursday night.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games champion, who turns 27 on Monday, completed his European season with a fourth consecutive victory by clocking 9.96 to hold off fellow Arthur Cisse, of the Ivory Coast.
Cisse led going into the final 50 metres, but Simbine turned on the acceleration and went on to win imprssively, as the Ivorian took second spot in 10.04.
Simbine’s longest unbeaten streak in the 100 metres was in 2015 when he won 10 races on the trot, but that was all in local events.
9.96!@AkaniSimbine soars through the second 50m to take victory at #RomeDL.
— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) September 17, 2020
South Africa’s 110m hurdler Antonio Alkana ran 13.40 a few nights earlier in Switzerland, but got off to a shaky start this time around and wasn’t able to recover. The 30-year-old finished seventh in a time of 13.66, while Britain’s Andrew Pozzi won in 13.15.
In the shot put, Zane Weir took part in his maiden Diamond League event, although he was unable to reach the 20-metre mark – something he has done regularly over the last month. Weir had to settle for seventh spot, following a best effort of 19.43m.
