Bragging rights to being the fastest man on the planet for 2019 is what is going to be at stake when the world's top sprinters line up to race the 100m from 27 September at the IAAF World Championship in Doha.

Tuks's Akani Simbine is a definite contender. His time of 9.93s with which he won the 100m during the London Diamond League Meeting ranks amongst the top five fastest this season.

His coach, Werner Prinsloo, however, is hesitant to take anything for granted.

"As it is a World Championships, anything can happen. A relative unknown athlete can run the race of his life and win the title. There is also a real chance of one athlete clocking a fantastic time. Then again, at a championship like this, it is not always about times it will be all about medals.

"Akani had his breakthrough during last year's Gold Coast Commonwealth Games when he won the 100m. It was the first time he medalled at a significant event. The challenge now is to step up to the next level."

According to Prinsloo the Tuks sprinter was quite frustrated after he had raced in Berlin and Zurich.

"He lost confidence in his own ability to keep up with the other sprinters after 60 metres. In the past, catching up and outsprinting his rivals used to be one of his strengths. Suddenly he is the one being left behind during the latter stages of a race.

"Over the last four weeks, our primary focus had been to restore his top-end speed. I think we have succeeded in doing so."

Prinsloo emphasises that there is never such a thing as an easy race at a World Championship.

"During the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio Akani learned the hard way that you can't rest on your laurels, even running the heats. He only managed to qualify for the semi-finals as one of the fastest losers.

"The semi-finals are usually the big fight as only the top two athletes automatically qualify for the final."

Prinsloo tips Christian Coleman (USA) who has clocked the season's fastest time of 9.81s as one of the prerace favourites.

"Coleman has been consistently fast over the last two years. Whether he has the temperament to be championship winner, however, remains to be seen.

"Justin Gatlin (USA) can never be written off as he is an old hand in sprinting with a lot of experience. Canada's Andre de Grasse seems to get faster each time he races while Zharnel Hughes (Brittain) is always a contender."

As to the heat, factor Prinsloo said last night when they arrived in Doha at 01:00 the temperature was still 31 degrees Celsius. It is predicted that during midday it could soar to as high as 39 degrees Celsius.

"Luckily, the athletes only compete late afternoon, but still we need to be smart with our time management when training and warming up for races. If an athlete is out in the sun for too long, their energy levels get drained quite quickly."

The 100m heats start at 18:15 (SA time) on Friday, 27 September.