Simbine eyes Lyles showdown as Wayde returns in Atlanta

After a lengthy indoor season, a few Diamond League wins and World Relays gold medal, you would think Akani Simbine would take a breather back home.

But instead of enjoying the celebrations with the Team South Africa relay squad at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg this week, Simbine travelled in another direction.

The 31-year-old SA sprint star left China and headed to the United States to take part in Saturday’s adidas Atlanta City Games.

Simbine has been in red-hot form, earning a bronze medal at the 60m indoor world championships in China in March in his first ever campaign in that arena.

Then he ran a 2025 100m world-lead of 9.90 seconds at the Botswana Grand Prix in Gaborone, before winning consecutive Diamond League races in China.

He didn’t slow down on his busy start to the year, anchoring SA to the 4x100m gold medal at the World Relays in Guangzhou, China last weekend with an astonishing finish to edge out USA’s Brandon Hicklin, who boasts the second-fastest 100m time this year of 9.93.

Clearly Simbine is the man to beat in Atlanta – so does that mean 100m Olympic champion Noah Lyles is running scared of the South African?

Lyles, who pulled off an incredible triple-gold-medal haul at the 2023 world championships in Budapest in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, will also be competing at Piedmont Park – but in the 150m event.

He is chasing Usain Bolt’s world best time of 14.35, having run 14.41 in last year’s corresponding meeting.

But Lyles is seemingly holding his fire for now with regards to Simbine, with the September world championships in Tokyo the main goal for this season.

Nevertheless, Simbine will hope to maintain his unbeaten 100m streak for this year, but will be up against a formidable field in Atlanta.

Jamaican Oblique Seville is at the top of that list, as he boasts a personal best of 9.81 – which is slightly quicker than Simbine’s SA record of 9.82.

Seville finished eighth in the fastest-ever 100m Olympic final last year – running 9.91, with Simbine fourth in 9.82.

Other notable competitors in Atlanta are Americans Erriyon Knighton (200m world championship silver medallist in 2023 and bronze in 2022) and Cravont Charleston (100m personal best of 9.90), as well as US-based Nigerian Udodi Onwuzurike (9.92 PB).

The other South African taking part at the Atlanta City Games will be 400m world record holder Wayde van Niekerk.

The 32-year-old was scheduled to participate at the national championships in Potchefstroom in late April, but withdrew following the birth of his second son.

Now Van Niekerk will hope to finally get his 2025 season going, having returned to South Africa on a fulltime basis after leaving his US-based coach Lance Brauman’s training squad.

Van Niekerk will be running in the 200m event, which indicates that the half-lap event will be his main distance in 2025 again, having reached the semi-finals at last year’s Paris Olympics.

But he will have to produce some excellent times over the next few months to push for a place in the SA team, with the likes of Sinesipho Dambile (20.01), Bayanda Walaza (20.08), Naeem Jack (20.13) and Abduraghmaan Karriem (20.15) having already breached the 20.16 qualifying mark.

Van Niekerk’s fastest time in 2024 was his 20.29 effort in Madrid last June.

Meanwhile, another member of the SA 4x100m relay team that won silver at the Paris Olympics, Shaun Maswanganyi, will be back on the track in Friday’s Diamond League meeting in Doha, Qatar.

Maswanganyi will be squaring off with 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo in the half-lap event, and will hope to run the 20.16 world championship qualifying time.