South African Akani Simbine (100m) and Burkinabe Hugues-Fabrice Zango (Triple jump) hit hard at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial, a meeting of the World Athletics Continental Tour which took place on Tuesday, July 6, 2021 in Szekesfehervar, Hungary.
Simbine set a new African 100m record in 9'84 (1.2m / s) clearly ahead of Americans Michael Rodgers (10''00) and Marvin Bracy (10''02). Nigerian Olusoji Fasuba had held the previous mark since 2006 in 9.85. At the same time, the South African sprinter (27) signed the second best world performance of the year behind the 9''77 of the American Trayvon Bromell.
In the Triple jump, the Portuguese Pedro Pablo Pichardo and the Burkinabe Hugues Fabrice Zango engaged in an exciting duel which resulted in two big performances.
Despite a new open-air African record (17.82 m on the fourth attempt, + 0.2 m / s), Teddy Tamgho's pupil had to leave the victory to Pichardo, two-time silver medalist at the Worlds in the Cuban jersey, who successfully jumped 17.92 m (+ 0.4 m / s). It is the best global performance of the year. Fabrice Zango held the old African record with 17.67m (+0.2) since June 1st during the Meeting international de Montreuil. The Burkinabé is also the holder of the world indoor record (18.07m last January).
A few weeks before the Tokyo Olympics, Simbine and Zango are sharpened to reach the podium.
