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Africa’s fastest man could only manage 10.12 seconds at the season-opening Grand Prix Series but he has a chance to make amends next week while Botswana and Nairobi also present a good chance
Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala missed his target of running his first official sub-10 at the season-opening ASA Grand Prix Series in Pretoria, South Africa on Wednesday night.
Omanyala had expressed his intentions of clocking below 10 seconds for the first time this year before the race but managed 10.12 seconds as he won the race at the Tuks Stadium to miss his target.
However, Omanyala still has an opportunity to make amends in South Africa as he will feature in the second leg of the Grand Prix in Germiston on April 19.
With temperatures of 16 °C on Wednesday, Omanyala will be hoping that the weather is a bit favourable next week to help him to his ambitions while after coming off the blocks a bit slow, another quick start will come in handy.
There were a handful of Kenyan fans in the stadium on Wednesday which can perhaps add to his motivation if the numbers will be the same or more in Germiston.
With Africa being the scene of his recent sub-10 marks, Omanyala will have a chance to lower his mark at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix on April 29.
He promised to ‘bring down’ the National Stadium in Gaborone when confirming his attendance for the Botswana event last month and given it is one of the fastest tracks on the continent, it will not be a surprise if he lowers his African record of 9.77, set at last year’s championships in Saint Pierre, Mauritius.
In the unlikely event that it does not work out in the southern African countries, Omanyala can do it on home soil during the Kip Keino Classic on May 13 at Kasarani Stadium.
The Kenyan sprinter lit up the stadium at last year’s Kip Keino Classic when he clocked 9.85, the fastest time of the season then, to ignite scenes of joy in the crowd, and it would be a perfect opportunity to do it again. The Nairobi event will come after he has featured in Atlanta on May 6.
Omanyala has already run a sub-10 this year when he clocked the fastest 100m in 2023 by setting a mark of 9.81 at the Athletics Kenya Track and Field meeting in February, but his time did not include a wind recording.
He has begun the season in good form by setting a Kenyan national record of 6.54 in the 60m indoor sprint in France in February before the 9.81 in Nairobi.
Omanyala will also feature in this season’s Diamond League but it is hoped that he will already be running sub-10 at the time, as he gears up for the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August.
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