Disaster for SA at World Champs as Akani Simbine sensationally disqualified from 100m sprint

South Africa's Akani Simbine sensationally false started to be disqualified from the semifinals of the 100m World Championships in Budapest on Sunday.

Simbine, who had qualified for the semifinals as the joint third-fastest athlete with a time of 9.97 seconds, produced a reaction time of 0.078 seconds when his semi, the second of three, was flagged for a false start.

Upon discovering that his lane had produced the false start, Simbine went to have a look for himself on the screen, giving the impression he would race under protest.

But after seeing the reaction time he decided to vacate lane four and take his disqualification.

The result means Simbine, who has been a medal hope for South Africa for a good decade but never actually medalled at a major championships except for the 2018 Commonwealth Games (where he won gold), will have his dream of being the first African sprinter to win a medal of any colour at the World Championships extinguished.

Simbine had been in the same semifinal as 2019 world champion Christian Coleman and Great Britain's Zharnel Hughes, the world's fastest man this year with a time of 9.83sec, who went on to finish first and second in 9.88sec and 9.93sec.

Simbine's disqualification is a massive blow to Team South Africa's chances as their hopes had centred heavily on him and 400m world record holder Wayde van Niekerk for individual medals, with the 4x100m relay team which he will lead an outside chance.