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Africa’s fastest man will be using the 150m event to test his speed ahead of the Kip Keino Classic.
Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala is set to use the 150m to test his speed at the Atlanta City Games on Saturday, a race that will stretch him to the limit, given the high quality of the opponents he is up against.
Omanyala will be running in the 150m for the first time but he is up against seasoned runners over the distance such as American Noah Lyles who is salivating at Usain Bolt’s record of 14.35.
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05:45 - 03.05.2023
ATHLETICS Omanyala hints at smashing African 100m record at the Kip Keino Classic
He will also hope to become the first African to win a medal at the World Championships in Budapest.
While records or wins are not on his mind, the stellar cast presents the 26-year-old with a major test which should serve him right as he bids to stay in shape for the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi next week where he plans to lower his African record of 9.77.
“This is the year we are going to break records and trust me when I say that. This is the year that we are going to hit hard,” said a confident Omanyala.
“After the Kip Keino Classic, we shall be going for the world title and we have to start with a win at home. You don’t want to miss this. You (fans) should come and watch the event live and I promise to give you a great show.”
His bullish mood means he goes into the Atlanta Games confident and he will need plenty of that against Lyles, the Olympics 200m bronze medalist, world 200m silver medalist Erriyon Knighton, also of the US, 2017 world 200m bronze medalist Jereem Richards from Trinidad and Tobago and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake from Britain who form the stellar cast.
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10:00 - 02.05.2023
ATHLETICS American sprint legend backs Omanyala to win a medal at World Championships
The four-time Olympic champion believes the Kenyan has the best possible chance of ending the 100m medal drought for Africa
Lyles clocked in a wind assisted 9.92 (+2.6) to finish second at the PURE Athletics Spring Invitational in Clermont, Florida last month and has a season best of 9.95 set while winning at Tom Jones Memorial, Percy Beard Track in the same US state a few days earlier.
The American holds the fourth fastest time in 150m of 14.69 set in 2019 while Richards has the sixth fastest (14.75) clocked in 2021 while Mitchell-Blake is the seventh fastest (14.81) set in 2018.
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14:40 - 30.04.2023
ATHLETICS WATCH: Omanyala’s line infringement that saw his Botswana Grand Prix victory scrapped
Africa’s fastest man was his disqualified for the technical error after managing his first sub-10 of the season
It means Omanyala, who run a wind assisted 9.87, his first sub-10 of the season, at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix last weekend is not short of competitors who will up his preparations for the Nairobi event, and indeed the season, where is set to feature in the Diamond League ahead of the World Championships in August.
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