SIMBINE CLASSIC
BRINGS THE WORLD TO PRETORIA
The World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet aims to bring world-class athletics to South African soil, giving local stars a rare chance to shine at home while showcasing the country on the global stage.
On 28 April, Pretoria’ s Pilditch Stadium will host an event that will hopefully mark a turning point for South African athletics – the inaugural Simbine Classic, the country’ s first-ever World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet.
For South Africa’ s sprint king, Akani Simbine, who has reached three Olympic 100m finals and anchored the nation’ s 4x100m team to Olympic relay silver in 2024, this event is all about legacy, opportunity, and showcasing South Africa to the world.
Photos courtesy of Backsports
“ I think for me, it ' s important that I ' m laying a lot of foundations down for when I leave the sport,” Simbine explained at the launch of the event.“ You can ' t wait to retire to start wanting to start a foundation, start a tournament, or start a business. For me, that doesn ' t make sense because when you retire, you become irrelevant. And when you ' re still in the sport, you ' re still relevant. So your name still holds some sort of weight for you to get into a door so you can make a pitch to someone. And that can open a door.”
6 www. modernathlete. co. za