To break 20 seconds in the 200 metres will be a major goal for Akani Simbine (Tuks/HPC) next year. 
“The question is not whether Akani is capable of doing so, but when he will do it,” said his coach, Werner Prinsloo. 

“I personally thought he would be in contention to win a bronze medal in the 200 metres at the Olympic Games in Rio but unfortunately, due to various circumstances, things did not work out as we had hoped.”
When Simbine ran 20.16s in Budapest shortly before the Olympic Games, he set a new best time in the 200 metres.  According to Prinsloo the plan is for Simbine to compete in the 100 metres as well as the 200 metres at next year’s World Championships in London.

“I don’t think we will have to make drastic changes to his training programme to accomplish this.  We will stick to the things we know work for him. However, I would like Akani to compete in the 200 metres next year. The important thing is not to overdo things.  Akani did not race in as many races in 2016 as he did in 2015. I am a firm believer in the concept of the right race at the right time.”

The Tuks/HPC athlete can rightfully claim to be one of the top sprinters in the 100 metres at the moment. His breakthrough race was definitely in Budapest where he ran a time of 9.89s, the fifth fastest time in the world.  Since then Simbine has not run one bad race. He finished fifth in the Olympic final and was second at both the Paris and Zurich Diamond League Meetings, finishing third overall in the Diamond League standings.

Asked what he thinks led to Simbine establishing himself as one of the top 100 metres sprinters in the world, Prinsloo said: 
“At the beginning of the season my goal, as coach, was to help Akani to be faster out of his starting blocks. I also spend time working on the first phase (1 to 30 metres) of his race. In the past he tended to be just off the leader’s pace, which meant that he had to work so much harder over the second part of the race. Once Akani mastered this there was basically no stopping him.”

Prinsloo said there is an excellent chance that Simbine will again train with the likes of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake in Jamaica next year.

“While I was at the Games, Gus Mills (coach) asked when they will see Akani again. He definitely benefitted from training in Jamaica. It certainly helped to improve his start and another positive spinoff was that he had the opportunity to befriend Usain and Yohan.”

** On Sunday LJ van Zyl (Tuks/HPC) will compete in a 200-hurdles street race in Brussels. 
Last year at the GreatCity Games in Manchester he not only won the 200-hurdles in a time of 22.10s, but also equalled the unofficial world record set by Andy Turner in 2010.