South Africa's Sprinting Stalwart Wins Top Athletic Honour

SOUTH AFRICA’S CONSISTENCY CHAMPION CLAIMS NATION’S TOP SPORTING HONOUR

Akani Simbine, the 32-year-old sprinter from Kempton Park, claimed South Africa’s Sports Star of the Year award at the 19th SA Sports Awards, held in Sun City on 23 August 2026. The honour recognises an athlete whose career has been defined by relentless consistency, barrier-breaking speed and a sustained presence on the global stage that has elevated South African athletics across more than a decade of elite competition.

Simbine’s victory came ahead of strong contenders including Proteas captain Temba Bavuma and Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx. The award marks a significant personal milestone for an athlete nominated multiple times in previous years without securing the prize. In his remarks, Simbine emphasised the role of his family, noting that his parents’ presence on stage to reflect on their shared journey was his greatest source of gratitude.

The distinction that most clearly sets Simbine apart is his unprecedented longevity in sub-10-second 100-metre performance. He became the first athlete in history to run a legal sub-10-second 100m across 11 consecutive seasons, spanning 2015 to 2025, surpassing the previous benchmark held by retired Jamaican sprint great Usain Bolt, an eight-time Olympic gold medallist and world record holder in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. Earlier in 2026, Simbine accumulated more than 50 legal sub-10 performances, a figure that underscores the meticulous preparation, resilience through injury and unwavering work ethic required to maintain such a standard.

In his acceptance speech, Simbine credited his longtime coach Werner Prinsloo and his support team for enabling this consistency. He also acknowledged South Africa’s role in providing the platform to represent the nation on the world stage, a responsibility he has approached with characteristic dedication across multiple Olympic cycles and international championships.

His path to elite athletics began in an unlikely way. Originally oriented toward football, his trajectory shifted in 2012 when he represented South Africa at the Zone 6 Games in Lusaka and shattered the national junior 100m record with a time of 10.19 seconds. That breakthrough led to senior competition and admission to the University of Pretoria’s Tuks High Performance Centre, where he pursued studies in information science while training under Prinsloo’s guidance.

His first sub-10-second run came in 2015 at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea, where he equalled the South African record of 9.97 seconds while winning gold. The following year, he lowered the national mark to 9.89 and reached the Olympic final in Rio, finishing fifth in 9.94 seconds and becoming the first South African man to contest an Olympic 100m final in the modern era.

Subsequent Olympic appearances in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 cemented his status as a fixture of international elite sprinting. In Paris, Simbine produced what he has described as the race of his life, running a national record of 9.82 seconds for fourth place in the 100m, narrowly missing the podium. That same Games delivered the individual Olympic medal that had long eluded him: a silver in the men’s 4x100m relay, where he anchored a young South African quartet to a historic achievement.

His championship record extends across multiple disciplines and venues. In 2018, he won Commonwealth Games gold in the 100m at Gold Coast and African Championships gold at Asaba. He has reached five World Championships 100m finals, finishing fifth in 2017 and 2022, and fourth in 2019. In 2025, he earned bronze in the 60m at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing (the first such medal by a South African man) and helped secure World Relays gold in the 4x100m in Guangzhou.

His personal bests stand as national records: 9.82 seconds in the 100m and a share of the African 4x100m record at 37.49 seconds. He has also run 19.95 over 200m.

Beyond individual performance, Simbine has become a builder of South African athletics and an advocate for young talent development. The Simbine Classic meeting in Pretoria has attracted elite international fields and provided a high-quality platform for emerging sprinters. Younger athletes, including Bayanda Walaza, named Youth Sport Star of the Year in 2026, cite him as an inspiration. His role as Olympic flag-bearer in Paris and his steady presence through near-misses have earned him respect across the sporting community.

The 2026 Sports Star of the Year award reflects this blend of sustained excellence and contribution to the sport. In a year marked by strong performances from cricket and rugby, voters recognised the sprinter whose speed, leadership and consistency have inspired the nation. Simbine has responded with characteristic humility, reflecting that every race, sacrifice, setback and moment of belief has formed part of a journey centred on representing South Africa with distinction.

At 32, with an Olympic silver, a national record ranking among the fastest times in history, an unmatched sub-10 streak spanning 11 seasons and now the nation’s top individual sporting honour, Simbine stands as the greatest sprinter South Africa has produced. His story transcends the medals that sometimes arrived late or slipped away narrowly. It is fundamentally about sustained excellence, the quiet rewriting of what is possible for African sprinters, and the question of how much further the next generation, watching closely, can take it.