Omanyala bows out of World Indoor Championships
Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala competes in the men's 60 metres heats during The World Athletics Indoor Championships 2022 at the Stark Arena, in Belgrade, on March 19, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Omanyala, who had convincingly won his heat to qualify for the semis, finished fourth in Heat 1 of the semi-finals clocking 6.64 seconds
- USA's Marvin Bracy won that heat in 6.51 while Jerad Elcock of Trinidad and Tobago was second in 6.63
- Omanyala's hopes of being among the two fastest outsiders went up in smoke when Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs stormed to victory in Heat 2 in a world lead time of 6.45
In Belgrade
Ferdinand Omanyala Saturday bowed out of the World Indoor Championships after finishing outside the qualifying places in the 60 metres semi-finals here at the Stark Arena.
Omanyala, who had convincingly won his heat to qualify for the semis, finished fourth in Heat 1 of the semi-finals clocking 6.64 seconds.
USA's Marvin Bracy won that heat in 6.51 while Jerad Elcock of Trinidad and Tobago was second in 6.63. Briton Andrew Robertson timed at 6.64, but just 0.002 seconds faster than the Kenyan.
The first two in each of the three semi-final heats along with the two fastest outsiders proceed to the final.
But Omanyala's hopes of being among the two fastest outsiders went up in smoke when Olympic 100m champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs stormed to victory in Heat 2 in a world lead time of 6.45.
“The issues with the start affected me but it’s all good,” Omanyala said, referring to the starter’s decision to restart the race somewhat affecting the field’s concentration.
Adab Thomas of Great Britain settled second in 6.57 to automatically qualify for the final.
Estonia's Karl Nazarov (6.59), Ivorian Arthur Cisse (6.59) and Botswana's Stephen Abosi (6.61) followed in that order to confirm Omanyala's exit from the championship since they posted faster times than the Kenyan.
In fact it's Nazarov and Cisse who qualified for the final as the two fastest outsiders.
World indoor 60m record holder Christian Coleman won Heat 3 in 6.51 ahead of Bolade Ajomale of Canada who timed 6.58 as both athletes completed the roster for the final set for Saturday 11.20pm.
