WeeklySA_AdminPANDA PUSHA: Popular South African sprinter claims bronze medal at World Indoor Athletics championships in China
By Sports Reporter
Akani Simbine says that he “never stopped believing” and at the age of 31 is basking in the glory of the bronze medal he won at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing, China.
Simbine’s near misses in major global championships include fifth (Rio 2016), fifth (London 2017), fourth (Doha 2019), fourth (Tokyo 2021), fifth Eugene (2022) and fourth Paris (2024). These all relate to the Olympics and outdoor World Championships. He is a multiple national champion and 100m African record holder, with a personal best of 9.84 seconds.
He has won individual gold and silver in the 100m at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and 2022, but these fall outside of his efforts at the World Championships and Olympics.
The popular South African sprinter claimed the World Indoor bronze in 6.54sec, with gold going to Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu (6.49) and silver to Australian Lachlan Kennedy (6.50).
Afterwards he said: “Never stop believing in yourself. Never stop believing in the dream you had when you started running. I have been an athlete who has been running and making finals, placing fourth and just missing out on medals and I never gave up.
“I always pushed and I always believed. So, to the kids, keep on believing in yourself and enjoying yourself. See the sport as a sport and enjoy it. Keep on growing with the sport because when you enjoy it you will grow and that will give you a lot of fun and longevity.
Simbine is now one of the senior statesmen in the sprinting world, but he is in no mood to hang up his spikes, and in fact is showing some of the best form of his distinguished career.
“We will see where the career still goes. I’m enjoying running. I feel young, I feel fresh. I don’t know about another 10 years but we’ll see!”
Prudence Sekgodiso created history when she became the first South African to win a medal in the 800m at a World Indoor Championships – and she did so with a GOLD in the final in Nanjing, China.
The 23-year-old is enjoying the best season of her career and she surged to victory on the third and final day of the World Indoor Championships, a perfectly-timed race seeing her sprint away from Ethiopia’s Nigist Getachew in the last 100m to win in 1min 58.40sec.
Sekgodiso, a finalist in her first Olympics in Paris last year, has been in superb form in 2025 and went into the final as the second-fastest qualifier. In the final, a field of six over four 200m laps, she sat in third position behind the Ethiopians of Getachew snd Tsiga Duguma, before powering away on the last lap and stopping the clock in the fastest time of the year.
Sekgodiso’s winning time is her fourth sub-2min run of the season and so fast was the race that even fourth and fifth-place finishers Switzerland’s Audrey Werro and newly crowned European indoor champion Anna Wielgosz set an national record of 1:59.81 and a PB of 2:00.34, respectively.
“It’s a surprise. You have the world’s fastest in the race, but I believed that I could make it, and to make it and grab that gold medal, I’m proud,” said Sekgodiso. “I did dream of this, I’ve been working so hard for this. We have a long season ahead and I believe there’s still more to come.”
She is the second South African to win a medal at the Championships, following Akani Simbine’s bronze in the men’s 60m.
The other two athletes representing the country were also involved in Sunday action.
In the men’s shot put Chris van Niekerk finished 14th in the one-off final with a distance of 19.47m, while Cheswill Johnson placed12th in the men’s long jump after a leap of 7.64m.
