WATCH: Shanghai Diamond League Champion Akani Simbine storms to victory in a new 100m world lead performance at Adidas Atlanta City Games 2024

South African sprinting sensation Akani Simbine recently stormed to victory in the 100m at the 2024 Adidas Atlanta City Games with a new world-leading performance. He registered a sensational time of 9.90s to beat the previous world lead time set by the 18-year-old Christian Miller (9.93s) at the 2024 PURE Athletics Elite Invitational.

With his 100m win, he finished ahead of Ferdinand Omanyala, the African record holder in the distance, and the USA’s Kendal Williams, who clocked times of 10.00s and 10.05s, respectively.

Watch the former African record holder Simbine storming to victory in the 100m at the 2024 Adidas Atlanta City Games here.

Simbine has had an impressive 2024 season so far which he began at the South African Championships as he won the event with a time of 10.01 (-0.5 m/s), having earlier finished on top in his respective heat (10.07s) and semifinal (10.27s) in the men’s 100m.

He then went on to produce a top performance at the 2024 Shanghai/Suzhou Diamond League which he dominated by defeating the USA’s two prominent sprinters Christian Coleman (10.04s) and Fred Kerley (10.11s) in a time of 10.01s.

Besides this, he also ran the 200m at the 2024 ASA Athletics Grand Prix 3 in which he finished second with a timing of 20.32s in the Final 2. He was also an integral member of South Africa’s 4x100m relay team at the 2024 World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas as the team topped the second round qualification stage in the Heat 3 in a time of 38.08s.

With this performance by Simbine, who ran the anchor leg, and his teammates Bayanda Walaza, Benjamin Richardson, and Bradley Botshelo Nkoana, South Africa booked their ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics in this event.

A look into Akani Simbine’s top achievements

Akani Simbine of Team South Africa looks on during heat 7 of the Men's 100m during day one of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023 at National Athletics Centre on August 19, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Akani Simbine is the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist and three-time African Championships gold medalist. Besides this, he played a key role in the men’s 4x100m relay at the 2021 World Athletics Relays.

He narrowly missed out on winning medals at the Olympics, where he finished fourth in the 100m in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and fifth in the 100m in the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the 2019 and 2022 World Athletics Championships, Akani Simbine came fourth and fifth in the 100m, respectively.