Top South African speedster Akani Simbine finally got his first sub-10 second time under the belt at a IAAF World Challenge meeting in Madrid, Spain, on Friday evening.
Simbine posted a season’s best of 9.98 seconds in his heat before finishing second in the final later. China’s Su Bingtian raced to victory in a new national record of 9.91sec.
Italian sprinter Filippo Tortu also posted a new national mark for second place with a time of 9.99. Commonwealth Games champion Simbine had to be content with third in 10.01.
Former South African 100m record holder Henricho Bruintjies clocked 10.11 in his heat and finished fifth in the final with 10.13. Fellow sub-10sec compatriot Thando Roto missed out on the final with a 10.40.
SA high jumper Chris Moleya produced a breakthrough performance when finishing third with a new personal best of 2.26 metres. He launched himself into joint fifth place on the South African all-time list.
World indoor champion Danil Lysenko of Russia won the competition with a best effort of 2.30m on count-back. National 110m hurdles record holder Antonio Alkana won bronze in his specialist event with a time of 13.41sec. Brazilian Gabriel Constantino won the race in 13.31.