Is this the end of the road for Akani Simbine after losing his titles in 2022?

This feature, from Deji Ogeyingbo, is about South African star Akani Simbine. Deji asks outloud what is next for Akani Simbine. What do you think?

Is this the end of the road for Akani Simbine after losing his titles in 2022?

This was supposed to be the year Akani Simbine solidified his status as Africa’s greatest sprinter of all time, haven become the most consistent sprinter on the world stage over the last seven years. In that time frame, Simbine became the Commonwealth Games Champion and African Champion and reached the final of every major championship.

The natural progression entails he should finally snag a world title this year, but with the reverse the case, he ended up losing the two titles he held on to. It had been coming, really. Nobody was going to go unchallenged for that long, especially on a continent that has a long history of producing quality sprinters.

Ferdinand Omanyala had been knocking on the door since last year, especially after he took down Simbine’s African Record of 9.84 by lowering it to 9.77 at the Kip Kieno Classic. The Kenyan seemed to be on the rise and destined to reach new heights this year, with Simbine stagnant or declining. If there was any sprinter that was going to pose a big threat to him this year, it was his East African rival.

This year, Simbine’s greatest fears came to the fore as he not only lost his titles to Omanyala, his reign as the undisputed king of African Sprinting in the last half a decade came to a halt. And in an era where a huge conveyor belt of talent is coming onto the world stage, getting back to the top can seem daunting. Simbine surely isn’t a spring chicken at this stage as he knows the task ahead to get back his titles and reclaim his status, but it would come with a huge change.

Typical with most South African athletes, they start their season in early April, and Simbine, who had not lost on home soil in over seven years, entered a couple of races before he starts his European season. In three of these meets on his home turf this year, Simbine squared up against Omanyala at the ASA Athletics Grand Prix.

It was the second time they were locking horns against each other. Omanyala laid down the gauntlet with an astonishing victory in 9.98s from Simbine, who clocked 10.11s. Embarrassing as that defeat may be, Simbine knew he wasn’t in pristine shape as he had just opened his…