Ferdinand Omanyala shatters 60m indoor national record in France
Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala competes during the men's 4x100m relay round 1 athletics event at the Alexander Stadium, in Birmingham on day nine of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, central England, on August 6, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Omanyala out-sprinted Arthur Cisse from Cote d’Ivoire, who he beat to second place in 6.59sec, as Briton Charles Dobson settled third in a season’s best 6.61sec.
- Omanyala had warmed up with a second place in the heats of 6.63, finishing behind Andrew Robertson from Britain as Cisse won the other heat in 6.57 to set up the grand finale.
Commonwealth and Africa 100metres champion Ferdinand Omanyala shattered his own 60m indoor national record in France on Wednesday.
As promised, Omanyala took off from the blocks well before clocking 6.55 seconds to win the men’s 60m final at the Mondeville Meeting on Wednesday, beating his previous record by 0.2 seconds.
Omanyala out-sprinted Arthur Cisse from Cote d’Ivoire, who he beat to second place in 6.59sec, as Briton Charles Dobson settled third in a season’s best 6.61sec.
The Kenyan sprints sensation had warmed up with a second place in the heats of 6.63, finishing behind Andrew Robertson from Britain as Cisse won the other heat in 6.57 to set up the grand finale.
Omanyala was coming from the Elite Indoor Track Miramas meeting on Saturday in France where he had timed 6.60 seconds to finish behind Arthur Cisse from Cote dïvore in 6.57sec in the first final.
The African champion was making a return at Mondeville, the Silver Label event, where he cracked 6.66sec in the heat and 6.68sec in the final last year.
He improved his own National Record within days when he cruised to 6.57sec at Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais at Arena Stade Couvert, Liévin on February 17 last year in France.
Omanyala now shifts to the French capital Paris on Saturday for his debut at Meeting de Paris, another Silver Label race, before wrapping up at Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais at Arena Stade Couvert, Liévin on February 15.
Also at Mondeville Meeting, Kenya’s Alex Ng’eno finished third in the men's 800m final in 1:50.38 behind Javier Miron from Spain in 1:49.50 and Briton Daniel Rowden in 1:49.52.
In Poland, Commonwealth 800m champion Mary Moraa made her World Indoor Tour debut with a fourth place finish in 2:01.51 in the women’s 800m at Orlen Copernicus Cup at Arena, Toruń.
Moraa lost the battle to Olympic and World 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson of Britain in a world lead time of 1:57.87 as Noelle Yaribo from Benin returned personal best 1:58.48.
