Akani Simbine to push for world title in 2023, vows coach Werner Prinsloo

The pair, who are celebrating twelve years of working together, have often been criticised for failing on the world stage, having won everything on offer on the local front but falling short at the Olympic Games and World Championships.

Simbine defended his national 100m title earlier this year to become a six-time SA champion, but failed to defend his 100m titles at the African Senior Championships in Mauritius and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Prinsloo tells SABC Sport that he is not bothered by the negative talks as he continues with his plans to make Simbine a World Championship medallist in the New Year.

"There's a title waiting to be won for him. He wants the titles and medals very badly, and I think that's where the emotion comes in as well because he wants it really badly," said Prinsloo.

"He's going to use that emotion to help him [achieve that] and get through the season as well. And when the time comes and everything just clicks and works, we'll look back at the season and say, 'Well, it's been worth it. This is what we planned to do.'

"But, for now, we just keep on pushing. There were a lot of negative talks and negative press about what we are doing, but we just put our heads down and do the work on a daily basis – that's all we can do. We leave the comments on the track."

Prinsloo insists Simbine is desperate for a world title and would not rest until he succeeded, with next year’s focus on the event set for Budapest, Hungary.