Akani Simbine has a gilt-edged opportunity to underline his standing as one of the world’s foremost 100m sprinters at the Diamond League meeting in London tomorrow.
The 100m field will make for a fascinating showdown as Simbine lines up against the American Noah Lyles and Jamaican Ackeem Blake, who have both clocked faster times than him this year.
Simbine clocked 9.94sec in Oslo, Norway in May, while Lyles (9.83) and Blake (9.92) were fractionally faster.
The other Blake in the eight-man field is the Jamaican legend Yohan, the world’s second-fastest man (behind Usain Bolt’s 9.58 and 19.19) over 100m (9.69) and 200m (19.26).
It will be a rare opportunity for Simbine to finish ahead of Yohan Blake, who has a 100m best of 10.16 this year.
Blake is one of two in the field who have not dipped below 10 seconds this year, with the other being the Anguilla-born Brit Zharnel Hughes, who has a best time of 10.09 this year.
He was famously disqualified for a false start in the Tokyo 100m final in 2021, in which Simbine placed fourth.
Importantly, tomorrow’s event is just a week away from the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
A good result will provide the athletes with a much-needed confidence boost and a psychological edge over their competitors leading into Paris.
Apart from the threat posed by Lyles and Ackeem Blake, Simbine will have to deal with fellow African Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who clocked a season best of 9.99 in Hungary earlier this month.
He placed second in a race won by Jamaican champion Kishane Thompson in 9.91, and Simbine was third in 10.01.
The South African started well, but was overtaken in the final 50m.
Hughes will be joined by two other countrymen in recently crowned British champion Louie Hinchliffe and Jeremiah Azu.
With their best 2024 times of 9.95 (Hinchliffe) and 9.97 (Azu), both must be considered for a possible podium finish, and this will serve as the perfect prelude to Paris.
The 30-year-old Simbine is now in the prime of his career, and tomorrow’s race will be a perfect warm-up opportunity for Paris.
The 50 000-seater London Stadium in Stratford, the 2012 Olympic Games venue, will provide the buzz reminiscent of an Olympic arena.
Last year’s event in the British capital attracted a sell-out crowd, and yesterday, the organisers were preparing to put ‘house full’ signs in place for this pre-Games showpiece.
Lyles, racing his fifth 100m of the season, will be the headline act for the tenth meeting of the 2024 Diamond League series, which is the final stop before the world’s finest athletes converge on the Stade de France for the Paris Games.