Akani Simbine scrapes into 100m final at Tokyo Games

Akani Simbine will shoot it out for the title of world’s fastest man later on Sunday afternoon after qualifying as a fastest loser in the semifinals.

He clocked 9.90 sec to finish fourth in the third heat, behind China’s Bingtian Su (9.83), American Ronnie Baker (9.83) and Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs (9.84). 

But Simbine's time was also the fourth-fastest of the semifinals. 

The rest of the field will be American Fred Kerley (9.96), Canadian Andre De Grasse (9.98), Zharnel Hughes (9.98) and Nigerian Enoch Adegoke (10.00),

For Simbine, this is his second Olympic final, having finished fifth at Rio 2016. 

Gift Leotlela was fourth in the first semifinal, clocking 10.03 before he went down with what looked like a hamstring injury.

And Shaun Maswanganyi was sixth in the second semifinal in 10.10.