Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 114, January 2019 | Page 11

ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
TRACK & FIELD
I
t was an interesting year for South African athletes, with the Commonwealth Games coming early
in the international season (April) followed by the other major international events in August (African
Championships) and September (Continental Cup). These meets were, of course, the goals for many
of our athletes, but then you simply cannot ignore the Diamond League Series, the bread and butter for
many of our stars. Meanwhile, the Junior athletes had the World Junior Champs to look forward too, and
all in all, there were many terrific performances in 2018.
MEN’S TRACK & FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
In the absence of the injured 400m Olympic and World Champion Wayde van Niekerk, the major contenders in this category came down to three athletes.
1 AKANI SIMBINE
By the end of 2017 Akani had become a consistent sub-10 athlete over 100m,
with appearances in both an Olympic and a World Championship final, and
with that in mind, his focus for 2018 was to win titles at the Commonwealth
Games (Gold Coast, Australia in April) and the African Championships
(Assaba, Nigeria in August). And Akani duly delivered. In Australia he claimed
the gold medal in 10.03 seconds, ahead of compatriot Henricho Bruintjies,
then anchored SA to the silver medal in the 4x100m in a new national record
time of 38.24.
AND THE
WINNER IS...
In August, he won his second title of the year, going two better than in 2016,
by winning the 100m at the African Champs. In trying conditions, Akani clocked 10.25 to finish ahead of Arthur Gue Cisse
(Ivory Coast), with South Africa’s Simon Magakwe earning the bronze. Akani then anchored South Africa to the gold medal
in the 4x100m relay, where the team clocked 38.25, just shy of the SA Record set in Australia. “I came out this year wanting
to win the Commonwealth and continental titles, so it’s been a great year for me and I’m really excited ahead of the next
couple of seasons,” says Akani, who rounded off the 2018 season with a bronze medal for Africa in the Continental Cup.
2 LUVO MANYONGA
Long jumper Luvo is an enigma. His phenomenal ability is matched only by the
sheer enjoyment he displays when competing. Since 2016 he has amassed a
plethora of medals, including silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016, gold at the World
Championships in London in 2017, and overall Diamond League winner in 2017,
so coming into 2018, he was expected to continue in that rich vein of medal-
winning form. He lived up to expectations, winning silver at the World Indoor
Championships early in March before claiming the national title two weeks later.
Luvo then went on to win his maiden Commonwealth Title with a Games record of
8.41m, with compatriot Ruswahl Samaai clinching the bronze with an 8.22m leap.
Luvo did have to settle for silver at the Africa Championships behind Ruswahl, but his consistency saw him crowned as
the Diamond League long jump winner for the second successive year. He has made no secret of the fact that he wants to
become the first athlete to break the nine-metre barrier, and there are quite a few experts who believe that he can do it.
3 RUSWAHL SAMAAI
One of the hardest working athletes on the circuit, Ruswahl has had to
play bridesmaid to friend and rival Luvanyonga on many occasions, but
he has still racked up an impressive record in the long jump, including
earning a bronze at the Commonwealth Games and silver at the SA
National Championships. However, the one title he was not going to
lose was his African Championships title won in 2016. He launched
a season’s best leap of 8.45m to defend his title and beat Luvo, and
therefore was selected as Africa’s representative in the event at the
Continental Cup in Ostrava in September, where he duly won his second
international title of 2018.
Sokwakhana
‘Soks’ Zazini
JUNIOR TRACK & FIELD
ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
There can be
only one overall
winner, and the
nod should go to
Akani Simbine
with three
international titles.
Zeney van
Der Walt
In this category, there are two clear winners for both the best
Junior Man and Junior Woman, and both compete in the 400m
hurdles event, traditionally one of SA’s strongest track items.
Both Sokwakhana ‘Soks’ Zazini and Zeney van Der Walt won
the World Junior title in 2018, with Soks also running the fastest
junior time in the world (49.32) for the year, while Zeney posted
the second-fastest junior time in the world (55.05) for 2018.
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