Leotlela and Simbine advance to 100m semifinals at World Championships

JOHANNESBURG - The World Athletics Championships are underway in Tokyo, where a squad of 48 athletes is representing South Africa.

In the opening round of the men's 100m sprint, national champion Gift Leotlela and SA record holder Akani Simbine both won their heats.

"I had a good start and went through my phases correctly," said Leotlela, who took 0.07 off his four-year-old personal best of 9.94. "My coach (Thabo Matebedi) just wants me to execute every round, and we know the (fast) times are there because we've been training really well, and it came in the first round."

READ MORE:

Star-studded 49-member SA team named for World Athletics Championships

Injury forces Bayanda Walaza to miss World Athletics Championships

Leotlela clocked 9.87 seconds setting a personal best, and Simbine stopped the clock at 10.02.

Both athletes have booked their places in the semifinals, whichwill be held on Sunday.

"This gives me a lot of confidence, but my expectations are not sky-high right now. We're still keeping it low, focusing on ourselves and focusing on the next race, and then we'll see," said Leotlela.

In other events, after breaking the African record in the first-round heats, the national mixed 4x400m relay team went on to finish sixth in the final on Day 1 of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday.