‘Mental block’ of chasing sub-10 sprint times

For 11 years running, Paris Olympics relay silver-medallist Akani Simbine, who anchored South Africa to the men's 4x100m World Relays gold on Sunday and carries the world-leading 100m time this year, has gone under 10 seconds in 100m.

- Rutvick Mehta

MUMBAI: It earned him the nickname of "sub-10 king", and a record stretch that moved him past Usain Bolt (10 years).

Yet, before the 31-year-old could make the magical mark of the sprint world almost routine, he took a while to reach that threshold. For five seasons from 2010, Simbine hovered around the mid- and low-10s, even touching 10.19 in 2012 and 10.02 in 2014. He finally ran sub-10 in 2015, and has done so every season since.

Through those five years of pushing to break that barrier for the first time, Simbine recalled being almost too obsessed with it.

“I kept running 10s, and I thought of chasing a time. And when I started chasing a time, I forgot about what sprinting means, what I actually meant to do in it, and the art of sprinting,” Simbine told HT in a World Athletics media call.

“That’s like a mental block you’re trying to make for yourself. As much as you say you want to run sub-10, but if you’re constantly chasing that sub-10, you forget about actually putting your race together in the best possible way.”

A few Indians could well relate to those words.