Akani Simbine (Tuks) will tomorrow when he lines up to compete in the 100 metres at the Shanghai Diamond League Meeting get a good idea if he is on track to maybe medalling later this year at the World Championships.
It is nearly a case of the who is who of international sprinting who are racing. Last year all nine athletes times ranked them amongst the 15 fastest sprinters in the world.
The Diamond League 100m champion Christian Coleman (USA) and Noah Lyles (USA), the series' 200m winner are the two big names. Coleman was the fastest athlete last year clocking 9.79s while Lyles's 9.88s was the third fastest.
The full lineup is Michael Rodgers (USA - 9.89s), Bingtian Su (China - 9.91s), Isiah Young (USA - 9.92s), Simbine (9.93s), Reece Prescod (Britain - 9.94s), Tyquendo Tracey (Jamaica - 9.96) and Zhenye Xie (China - 9.97s).
Werner Prinsloo who coaches Simbine is quite excited about the race.
"It is an excellent lineup. I won't be surprised if all nine athletes will qualify at the World Championships at least for the semi-finals."
As usual, Prinsloo is not one to make bold predictions; however, he emphasised that the Tuks sprinter is not racing to make up the numbers.
"It is Akani's first 100m race for the season. Over the last few years, he was off to a fast start in each of his first races, but tomorrow it is not about time. Winning or at least a top-three finish will be more important.
"Whoever wins might have a slight phycological edge for the rest of the season. It will be like putting out a challenge saying this is what I am capable of can you do better? If everything goes according to plan, it could be Akani.
Up to now, Simbine has only one Diamond League victory to his name. He won in 2017 in Doha. What made his victory memorable is that he outsprinted the likes of Asafa Powell, Justin Gatlin and Andre de Grasse. He was the only athlete who was able to dip under 10 seconds in the race. His winning time was 9.99s.
Although the Tuks sprinter main focus for the season is to medal at the World Championships Prinsloo reiterated that winning Diamond League races will help to establish Simbine as a true world-class sprinter.
As to running fast times, Prinsloo said: "This season we are not obsessed about time. Up to the World Championships, we will be taking it one race at a time. The goal is that each time he should be a little bit better than his previous race. If he does, there will be fast times. That is one of the reasons why Akani will be racing a lot less this season than he usually would."
Up to the World Championships, the only other races Simbine will be competing in are the Oslo Diamond League (13 June), the Adidas Boost Boston (16 June), Madrid (6 July), Monaco Diamond League (12 July), London Diamond League (20 July), Zurich Diamond League (29 August), Berlin (1 September).
The other South African athletes who will be in action tomorrow in Shanghai are Clarence Munyai (200m), Luvo Manyonga and Ruswahl Samaai (long jump) and Sunette Viljoen (javelin).
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