- Omanyala won the Heats at the Athletics Kenya weekend meet
- This was his first outdoor competition
- He comes in from an Indoor Tour in France
African record holder Ferdinand Omanyala ran a sizzling world leading time of 9.86seconds as he won the Heats on the opening day of the Athletics Kenya weekend meet at the Nyayo National Stadium.
This was his first race of the outdoor season, coming in just less than a week after returning home from his Indoor Tour of France, where he twice ran a National Record in the 60m.
At Nyayo, Omanyala was heads and shoulders above the rest of the field, as he blazed through a fast pop off the blocks before stepping up his signature acceleration in the final half of the race. He beat compatriot Steve Onyango also from the Kenyan Police, who finished a distant second in 10.34secs.
“We came here to do business; we never came to joke. The plan was to get it right from the heats. We’ll see about tomorrow (running another sub-10), I don’t want to promise anything,” Omanyala said after the race.
He added; “I feel that my body is fine and I have peaked well and we will see what I can do in the semis and the final.
Meanwhile, Samuel Imeta ran closest to Omanyala’s time, clocking 10.20secs as he won the fifth heat while Uganda’s Pius Adom who was invited for the race clocked 10.31secs as the third fastest time in the seventh Heat.
Omanyala in brilliant form this season
Omanyala is in brilliant form this season. He broke the 60m national record after clocking 6.54 to win at the Lievin World Indoor Tour. The win came a week after clocking 6.55 to win the men’s 60m in Mondeville World Indoor Tour – during which he lowered the national mark for the first time.
He has set himself a lofty target of lowering Usain Bolt’s 9.58secs world record as well as winning the World Championships in Budapest this year.
“This year, it is all about me against the time. I don’t want to focus on anybody but I want to do my best to compete against my own time,” Omanyala, who has a personal best of 9.77secs, also an African record, says.
He adds; “The aim is to win the World Championships and the Diamond League trophy. I am happy that the body is responding well and now we just wait for the miracles. We have just been doing the same training. It is just that my body has peaked at the right time and I am happy about it.”
Hoping for Diamond League
The Kenyan record holder says he hopes to run a few Diamond League races on top of his invites in various Continental Gold Tour events and he says this top tier competition is all he needs to hoist himself a step higher and compete with the best in the world.
He has also admitted that there will be competition from the Americans, but believes he is at par to compete with them.
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