TheCable

Akani Simbine, the South African sprinter, has broken the 15-year-old African 100 metres record held by Nigeria’s Olusoji Fasuba.

The 27-year-old breezed to a sensational 9.84 seconds to break the record at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial Meet in Budapest, Hungary, on Tuesday.

He was a tiny fraction of time ahead of the 9.85 seconds clocked by Fasuba in 2006 in Doha, Qatar.

Nigeria’s Divine Oduduru also finished second behind Simbine, who became the fastest African man alive.

The South African also bested Oduduru in the 200 metres race, finishing in 20.25 seconds. The Nigerian was third in 20.38 seconds.

The duo will resume their nascent rivalry at the Tokyo Olympics in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare set a new personal best in Hungary. She became Nigeria’s fastest woman of all time after clocking 10.89 to finish fourth in the women’s 100m final.

The trio of Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.71) and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.82), as well as Ivory Coast’s Marie-Jose Ta Lou (10.86) botched Okagbare’s dream of winning the meet for the third time — having won it in 2016 and 2017.

The race was the first the 33-year-old will partake in after breezing a wind-aided 10.63m, which would have registered her as the second fastest woman alive.

She will now head to the Stade Louis 11 stadium in Monaco for the Herculis Zepter Diamond League Meet on Friday as her preparation for the Olympics showdown intensifies.

The Olympics will run from July 23 to August 8.