‘Gold medal front runner’ - Why Former US Sprinter Believes Akani Simbine is World Champion in Waiting

Sub-10s king Akani Simbine has been tippped to win gold at 2025 World Championships. Photo: Imago

‘Gold medal front runner’ - Why Former US Sprinter Believes Akani Simbine is World Champion in Waiting

Joel Omotto 22:30 - 28.05.2025

South Africa’s Akani Simbine has been in great form this season and a former US sprinter believes the 2025 World Championship gold is his for the taking.

Akani Simbine has been termed the man to beat in 100m at the 2025 World Championships by a former American sprinter.

Former US sprinter Monzavous Edwards, popularly known as Raes Take by fans online, has been left in awe of Simbine’s red hot form and feels no other athlete will come close to him at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo in September.

Simbine has remained unbeaten in 2025 while he has five sub-10 performances from six 100m races this season as well as winning all the three Diamond League races he has featured in in Xiamen, Shanghai and Rabat.

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Despite the threat posed by Americans such as world champion Noah Lyles, Fred Kerley and Kenny Bednarek, Jamaicans, led by Olympics silver medalist Kishane Thompson, Edwards firmly believes Simbine is the gold medal front runner in Tokyo.

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Akani Simbine is having a dream outdoor season so far being undefeated. Photo. Imago

“Right now, he is the gold medal front runner. Damn what he ain’t done before. He’s making the least amount of mistakes in his races while they [are] looking average,” Edwards pointed out via a post on X.

“Kishane [Thompson] keeps pulling out so he ain’t working on being race sharp. Fred [Kerley] is struggling majorly in his race pattern and mechanics. And don’t give me that Noah [Lyles] bs cause he ain’t even ran yet for me to judge. Don’t give a damn what he did last year.

“You can’t beat talent and mechanics with just talent. They [are] trying to beat him [Simbine] off speed right now and judging him off the runner he used to be, he [is] beating them off of race strategy and mechanics and they ain’t paying attention to the runner he’s become.

“He looks the best right now. If they don’t fix they sh*t by worlds [World Championships], he gone finally get what he been after. It ain’t cause he’s faster, he’s more disciplined and polished.”

It is a big claim for Simbine whose best performance at the World Championships is fourth place at the 2019 edition in Doha.