Akani Simbine

South Africa’s Akani Simbine (C) wins the men’s 100m heats during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on July 31, 2021. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Akani Simbine and compatriots through to 100-metre semi-finals

The men’s 100-metre sprint heats at the Tokyo Olympics were hit by controversy but it wouldn’t stop Akani Simbine from progressing.

Akani Simbine

South Africa’s Akani Simbine (C) wins the men’s 100m heats during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on July 31, 2021. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

The men’s 100-metre sprint heats at the Tokyo Olympics were hit by controversy but it wouldn’t stop Akani Simbine from progressing.

Akani Simbine won heat six after a false start saw Kokoutse Dabla of Togo disqualified.

Akani Simbine through to 100-metre semi-finals

In heat five, an African athlete with serious medal hopes, in Divine Oduduru was also disqualified when he was the second man adjudged to have reacted too quickly to the starter’s pistol.

It took some time for Oduduru to be coaxed off the track as he had just seen Great Britain’s Reece Prescod avoid the same fate after going early in the first attempted running of heat five.

Akani Simbine
TOKYO, JAPAN – JULY 31: Akani Simbine (C) of Team South Africa competes in the Men’s 100m Round 1 heats on day eight of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on July 31, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Oduduru may consider an appeal against the decision, but the young runner with a personal best of 9.86 seconds might have to wait another four years to fulfill his Olympic dreams.

Akani Simbine, Gift Leotlela and Phatutshedzo Maswanganyi through

All three of the South African runners will compete in the semi-finals tomorrow with Phatutshedzo Maswanganyi finishing third in heat 1 and Gift Leotlela winning heat 4.

Leoletla comfortably powered to victory in his heat and even posted a better time than Simbine, who had to recover from a slow start to dash into the semi-finals.

Canada’s Andre De Grasse ran fastest in the seven heats clocking a 9.91 as one of four men to run a sub-ten time in his heat, the others being Fred Kerley, who was second in De Grasse’s heat, and Italy’s Marcell Jacobs as well as Nigeria’s Enoch Adegoke.

Tokyo 2020 – Men’s 100m heats results

1 1425 de GRASSE Andre CAN 10 NOV 1994 Round 1 – Heat 5/7 9 1 +0.6 9.91 Q SB
2 2428 JACOBS Lamont Marcell ITA 26 SEP 1994 Round 1 – Heat 3/7 4 1 +0.1 9.94 Q NR
3 3940 KERLEY Fred USA 7 MAY 1995 Round 1 – Heat 5/7 3 2 +0.6 9.97 Q
4 3056 ADEGOKE Enoch NGR 8 MAR 2000 Round 1 – Heat 2/7 6 1 +0.3 9.98 Q PB
5 2785 OMURWA Ferdinand KEN 2 JAN 1996 Round 1 – Heat 5/7 6 3 +0.6 10.01 Q =NR
6 1078 BROWNING Rohan AUS 31 DEC 1997 Round 1 – Heat 7/7 1 1 +0.8 10.01 Q PB
7 3294 OGUNODE Femi QAT 15 MAY 1991 Round 1 – Heat 2/7 3 2 +0.3 10.02 Q
8 3903 BAKER Ronnie USA 15 OCT 1993 Round 1 – Heat 1/7 8 1 +0.2 10.03 Q
9 2051 HUGHES Zharnel GBR 13 JUL 1995 Round 1 – Heat 2/7 8 3 +0.3 10.04 Q SB
10 2630 SEVILLE Oblique JAM 16 MAR 2001 Round 1 – Heat 3/7 9 2 +0.1 10.04 Q =PB
11 3413 LEOTLELA Gift RSA 12 MAY 1998 Round 1 – Heat 4/7 2 1 0.0 10.04 Q
12 3909 BROMELL Trayvon USA 10 JUL 1995 Round 1 – Heat 2/7 7 4 +0.3 10.05 q

13 1499 SU Bingtian CHN 29 AUG 1989 Round 1 – Heat 4/7 4 2 0.0 10.05 Q
14 2548 BLAKE Yohan JAM 26 DEC 1989 Round 1 – Heat 7/7 5 2 +0.8 10.06 Q
15 1980 VICAUT Jimmy FRA 27 FEB 1992 Round 1 – Heat 1/7 3 2 +0.2 10.07 Q SB
16 3435 SIMBINE Akani RSA 21 SEP 1993 Round 1 – Heat 6/7 4 1 -0.4 10.08 Q
16 2069 UJAH Chijindu GBR 5 MAR 1994 Round 1 – Heat 7/7 3 3 +0.8 10.08 Q

18 2443 TORTU Filippo ITA 15 JUN 1998 Round 1 – Heat 5/7 1 4 +0.6 10.10 q SB
19 2063 PRESCOD Reece GBR 29 FEB 1996 Round 1 – Heat 5/7 8 5 +0.6 10.12 q SB
20 3418 MASWANGANYI Shaun RSA 1 FEB 2001 Round 1 – Heat 3/7 1 3 +0.1 10.12 Q
21 2198 AZAMATI-KWAKU B GHA 14 JAN 1998 Round 1 – Heat 7/7 6 4 +0.8 10.13
22 1523 CISSE Arthur CIV 29 DEC 1996 Round 1 – Heat 6/7 3 2 -0.4 10.15 Q
22 3058 ITSEKIRI Usheoritse NGR 31 JAN 1998 Round 1 – Heat 1/7 2 3 +0.2 10.15 Q
24 2720 YAMAGATA Ryota JPN 10 JUN 1992 Round 1 – Heat 3/7 7 4 +0.1 10.15
25 1508 XIE Zhenye CHN 17 AUG 1993 Round 1 – Heat 3/7 2 5 +0.1 10.16
26 1310 CAMILO Paulo Andre BRA 20 AUG 1998 Round 1 – Heat 6/7 6 3 -0.4 10.17 Q
27 1506 WU Zhiqiang CHN 10 APR 1994 Round 1 – Heat 1/7 1 4 +0.2 10.18
28 2319 TAFTIAN Hassan IRI 4 MAY 1993 Round 1 – Heat 6/7 1 4 -0.4 10.19 SB
29 1665 MUSAH Kojo DEN 15 APR 1996 Round 1 – Heat 7/7 2 5 +0.8 10.20
30 3460 ROGERS Jason SKN 31 AUG 1991 Round 1 – Heat 4/7 8 3 0.0 10.21 Q
31 3606 YANG Chun-Han TPE 1 JAN 1997 Round 1 – Heat 1/7 9 5 +0.2 10.21 SB
32 2700 KOIKE Yuki JPN 13 MAY 1995 Round 1 – Heat 4/7 7 4 0.0 10.22
33 2714 TADA Shuhei JPN 24 JUN 1996 Round 1 – Heat 1/7 7 6 +0.2 10.22
34 1317 DO NASCIMENTO R BRA 26 SEP 1994 Round 1 – Heat 7/7 7 6 +0.8 10.24
35 2849 MATADI Emmanuel LBR 15 APR 1991 Round 1 – Heat 6/7 9 5 -0.4 10.25
36 3671 HARVEY Jak Ali TUR 4 MAY 1989 Round 1 – Heat 5/7 5 6 +0.6 10.25 SB
37 1024 GREENE Cejhae ANT 6 OCT 1995 Round 1 – Heat 6/7 5 6 -0.4 10.25
38 1307 BARDI Felipe BRA 8 OCT 1998 Round 1 – Heat 2/7 9 5 +0.3 10.26
39 2287 ZOHRI Lalu Muhammad INA 1 JUL 2000 Round 1 – Heat 4/7 5 5 0.0 10.26 SB
40 3526 WICKI Silvan SUI 13 FEB 1995 Round 1 – Heat 2/7 4 6 +0.3 10.28
41 3117 AL HARTHI Barakat OMA 15 JUN 1988 Round 1 – Heat 5/7 4 7 +0.6 10.31
Preliminary Round – Heat 2/3 2 1 0.0 10.27 Q SB
42 3493 MUDIYANSELAGE YA SRI 31 DEC 1994 Round 1 – Heat 3/7 5 6 +0.1 10.32
43 1994 CAMARA Ebrima GAM 18 SEP 1996 Round 1 – Heat 4/7 3 6 0.0 10.33
44 1135 COLEBROOKE Samson BAH 10 MAY 1997 Round 1 – Heat 2/7 5 7 +0.3 10.33
45 3237 NASCIMENTO Carlos POR 12 OCT 1994 Round 1 – Heat 3/7 8 7 +0.1 10.37
46 3540 VOLKO Jan SVK 2 NOV 1996 Round 1 – Heat 7/7 4 7 +0.8 10.40
47 1732 KELETELA Dorian EOR 6 FEB 1999 Round 1 – Heat 2/7 1 8 +0.3 10.41
Preliminary Round – Heat 3/3 6 1 +0.9 10.33 Q PB
48 2251 ARCHIBALD Emanuel GUY 9 SEP 1994 Round 1 – Heat 2/7 2 9 +0.3 10.41
Preliminary Round – Heat 2/3 9 2 0.0 10.30 Q
49 1451 HYMAN Kemar CAY 11 OCT 1989 Round 1 – Heat 4/7 6 7 0.0 10.41
50 4020 MAKUSHA Ngoni ZIM 29 JUN 1994 Round 1 – Heat 6/7 8 7 -0.4 10.43
Preliminary Round – Heat 1/3 7 1 -0.2 10.32 Q
51 1439 SMELLIE Gavin CAN 26 JUN 1986 Round 1 – Heat 3/7 6 8 +0.1 10.44
52 1422 BOATENG Bismark CAN 15 MAR 1992 Round 1 – Heat 6/7 7 8 -0.4 10.47
53 3667 BARNES Emre Zafer TUR 7 NOV 1988 Round 1 – Heat 1/7 5 7 +0.2 10.47
54 3697 ALHAMMADI Mohamed UAE 2 AUG 1991 Round 1 – Heat 5/7 7 8 +0.6 10.64
Preliminary Round – Heat 2/3 1 =3 0.0 10.59 Q PB
55 2986 ROMERO Yeykell Eliuth NCA 16 NOV 2002 Round 1 – Heat 7/7 9 8 +0.8 10.70
Preliminary Round – Heat 1/3 6 3 -0.2 10.62 Q
56 1887 TABAKAUCORO RB FIJ 4 SEP 1992 Round 1 – Heat 4/7 9 8 0.0 10.70
Preliminary Round – Heat 2/3 5 =3 0.0 10.59 Q SB
57 1992 MAGANGA GORRA Guy GAB 18 MAR 1993 Round 1 – Heat 1/7 6 8 +0.2 10.77
Preliminary Round – Heat 3/3 1 2 +0.9 10.61 Q
58 1533 MWIMBA Oliver COD 6 NOV 1994 Round 1 – Heat 3/7 3 9 +0.1 10.97
Preliminary Round – Heat 3/3 2 3 +0.9 10.63 Q
59 1153 BURKE Mario BAR 18 MAR 1997 Round 1 – Heat 7/7 8 9 +0.8 15.81
3600 DABLA Fabrice TOG 20 NOV 1992 Round 1 – Heat 6/7 2 DQ TR 16.8
Preliminary Round – Heat 1/3 8 2 -0.2 10.57 Q
3060 ODUDURU Divine NGR 7 OCT 1996 Round 1 – Heat 5/7 2 DQ TR 16.8
2640 TRACEY Tyquendo JAM 10 JUN 1993 Round 1 – Heat 1/7 4 DNS