Africa-Press – South-Africa. Akani Simbine and his Olympic silver medal band conquered the planet as they won the men’s 4x100m to kick-start a magical night at the World Relays in Guangzhou, China, on Sunday as South Africa landed two golds and a bronze.
The men’s 4x400m team featuring two schoolboys with experienced Zakithi Nene on the final leg stormed to victory in a 2 min 57.50 sec world lead and Zeney Geldenhuys anchored the women’s 4x400m to bronze in a 3:24.84 national record.
South Africa has downplayed relays for years, but they sent four teams to China and all qualified for the world championships in Tokyo later this year, and three made the podium. South Africa has won relay medals over the years, but never three at a global competition.
But it nearly started with a disaster in the 4x100m when Bayanda Walaza, the under-20 world 100m and 200m champion, was flagged for a false start.
Walaza was disqualified for that exact offence in the 200m final at the recent national championships in Potchefstroom, but a green flag gave him and his cohorts a lifeline and the 19-year-old made no mistake as he attacked in lane eight.
Sinesipho Dambile, the only new face from the Paris Olympics, was solid down the back straight before handing the baton to Bradley Nkoana and when he passed it to Simbine the US were in front.
American Brandon Hicklin had a clear lead, but Simbine, one of the all-time greats of anchor-leg running, hunted him down, taking him just before the line as he clocked a 37.61 sec world lead to claim victory by five-hundredths of a second.
Canada, the Olympic champions, were third in 38.11.
Simbine’s run was reminiscent of his lightning bolt effort to give South Africa an ill-fated gold at the 2021 World Relays in Poland, a medal the team was forced to return after one of the members, Thando Dlodlo, failed a doping test.
It’s taken four years to get into a position to take another shot at a World Relays gold and Simbine wasn’t going to miss out again.
The men’s 4x400m outfit, runners-up last year, stepped up to the top of the podium with a great all-round effort on Sunday.
Gardeo Isaacs went around the first lap in 45.39, and then matric pupil Udeme Okon, the 2024 under-20 world 400m champion, delivered a well-paced second lap in 44.24 before fellow schoolboy Leendert Koekemoer, the youngest in the team at 17, pulled the team into first place with a final burst on the home straight, completing his leg in 44.23.
Nene closed it out with an impressive 43.64.
In the women’s 4x400m Shirley Nekhuibui started, handing over to Miranda Coetzee and Precious Molepo before Zeney van der Walt defended South Africa’s position to claim a historic gong, only 12-hundredths behind the second-placed US.
And the South African mixed 4x400m team ended fifth in their final, clocking 3:16.29.
With the performances on Sunday, it’s hard to imagine South Africa’s eight-year world championship medal drought extending beyond the Japan showpiece in September.
The last time they won world championship silverware was at London 2017, missing out three times in a row at Doha 2019, Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023.
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