Omanyala explodes to fastest time this year in 100m
Ferdinand Omanyala celebrates after winning the men's 100m final race during the Third Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi on March 05, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Omanyala had ran wind-assisted 10.04 before cracking 10.07 and 10.09 in the second round and semi-finals respectively on Friday
- Omanyala was sublime in his blocks execution to win the men's 100m race, beating Samuel Imeta from Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to second place in 10.36 as another soldier Stephen Oluoch romped home third in 10.55
- So huge was the turnout that the organisers had to settle on athletes with the fastest times to determine the winners in men's distance races
Africa's fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala Saturday brought down the stadium record when he exploded to a world lead time of 10.00 seconds during the Third Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting at the Nyayo National Stadium.
Omanyala had ran wind-assisted 10.04 before cracking 10.07 and 10.09 in the second round and semi-finals respectively on Friday.
Omanyala was sublime in his blocks execution to win the men's 100m race, beating Samuel Imeta from Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to second place in 10.36 as another soldier Stephen Oluoch romped home third in 10.55.
Hebson Ochieng from Kenya Prisons and Robinson Mutende of KDF wrapped up the top five placing in 10.56 and 10.71 respectively.
Omanyala’s time is the third fastest time ran on Kenyan soil in 100m after he broke the African record when finishing second in 9.77 behind American Trayvon Bromell at last year's Kip Keino Classic.
Bromell won in 9.76 making him and Omanyala the seventh and eighth fastest men ever in 100m.
"I have greatly improved on my starts, which I can attribute to my participation in 60m at World Indoor Tour last month in France," said Omanyala, who set the 60m indoor National Record of 6.57 during his maiden World Indoor Tour.
"The 60m race is quite fast hence you must get it right pretty fast. You blink the race is over," said Omanyala, who declared his readiness for the World Indoor Championships due for March 18-20 in Belgrade, Serbia. "I want to go under 6.57 in Belgrade."
It's the national 100m record holder Maximilla Imali who braved a slow start to win to women's 100m in 11.72 seconds, beating Kenya Police Service's compatriot and former national champion and record holder, Eunice Kadogo (11.97), who is making a comeback.
Fast-rising Martha Musa hauled 46.90m for her second victory in women's javelin throw.
So huge was the turnout that the organisers had to settle on athletes with the fastest times to determine the winners in men's distance races.
The 10,000m had three heats of 30 athletes while the 5,000m had 11 heats of 29 athletes.
Emmanuel Kiplagat from Torongo, who has set his sight on this year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, emerged the best in 10,000m after clocking 28 minutes and 19.65 seconds in the second heat that produced five fastest times.
Collins Kones (KDF) came second in 28:21.20 followed by Charles Kamau of Chima in 28:23.15.
