South African sprint sensation Akani Simbine kicked off his 2025 Diamond League campaign with a hard-fought victory in the men’s 100m in Xiamen on April 26.
Clocking a solid 9.99 seconds at the Egret Stadium, Simbine outpaced his rivals, including Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala (10.13) and Britain’s Jeremiah Azu (10.17), to claim the top spot.
From the gun blast, the South African star had a perfect start to keep up with the run of fast-starting Coleman for the first 50m. However, Simbine showed his class from the rest of the stacked field in the last half of the race, blazing to victory in another sub-10s run of 9.99s.
Despite crossing the line first, Simbine admitted that his race was far from perfect. The 31-year-old sprinter disclosed an unexpected hiccup during the race that nearly costed his momentum.
“The race felt good, but I stumbled a bit after the 60, so I had to catch myself,” Simbine said.
“But I managed to catch the wind while catching the win. I just had to keep going with the momentum and focus on the basics.”
Simbine’s victory in Xiamen marks a strong start to his 2025 Diamond League season, reinforcing his reputation as a formidable contender in the 100m. He emphasized the importance of external factors in sprinting.
“If the conditions are good and we have a favorable wind, if everything primes us to run fast we run fast,” Simbine remarked.
Akani narrowly missed out on an individual Olympic medal in Tokyo, where he finished fourth and anchored South Africa’s 4x100m relay team to Olympic silver in Paris.
He is currently the world’s most in-form sprinter this season, as he’s unbeaten and the only man to go below the sub-10s mark on multiple occasions this year, making vital statements of his intentions ahead of the World Championships in Tokyo this summer.
After his Xiamen victory, Simbine will focus on the next Diamond League stop in Shanghai, set for May 3.
