Kip Keino Classic: Will Bracy extend his dominance over Omanyala?
From Left: Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala, Jamaica's Oblique Seville, Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs empty lane, USA's Marvin Bracy and Nigeria's Favour Oghene Tejiri Ashe compete in the men's 100m semi-final during the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on July 16, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Besides Bracy, the world 100m and 4x100m silver medallist, Omanyala, the defending 100m champion, will also face Canadian world 4x100m champions Aaron Brown (9.96) and Jerome Blake (10.00) at Kasarani.
- The field also gets interesting with the 2020 Tokyo and 2022 world 200m silver medallist Kenneth Bednarek (9.89) from USA and African Games 100m silver medallist, Ivorian Arthur Cisse, coming on board.
World 100 metres silver medallist Marvin Bracy from United States of America (USA) will be seeking to make it four wins in four races against Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala’s at the Kip Keino Classic on May 13 in Nairobi.
Besides Bracy, the world 100m and 4x100m silver medallist, Omanyala, the defending 100m champion, will also face Canadian world 4x100m champions Aaron Brown (9.96) and Jerome Blake (10.00) at Kasarani.
The field also gets interesting with the 2020 Tokyo and 2022 world 200m silver medallist Kenneth Bednarek (9.89) from USA and African Games 100m silver medallist, Ivorian Arthur Cisse, coming on board.
The fourth edition of the Kip Keino Classic, a World Athletics Continental Gold Tour event, will be held at the 60,000-seater Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
“It can never get better than this. We are ready for this year’s event with the field in the nine core races on the card almost full,” said the Meet Director Barnaba Korir.
Omanyala, who is the fastest man in the pack with personal best 9.77 seconds, and Bracy, who has career best 9.85, met last in the semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA in July, last year.
Omanyala finished fifth in 10.14, failing to advance while a second place in 9.93 was enough to secure Bracy a place in the final.
However, Bracy would lose the battle to fellow countryman Fred Kerley, clocking 9.88 against 9.86.
Interestingly, Omanyala had early in the year beaten Kerley to second place at the Kip Keino, clocking a world lead of 9.85 against 9.92.
Bracy, who is fresh from finishing eighth in 10.26 at LSU Alumni Gold in Baton Rouge, Los Angeles on April 23, withdrew from Botswana Golden Grand Prix that was held last Saturday.
Bracy has competed in two more races this year –at Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on April 1 where his 4x100m team won with his 4x400m settling fifth.
Bracy and Omanyala, the Commonwealth Games and Africa 100m champion, had met for the first time at the Spitzen Leichtathletik in Lucerne, Switzerland in August last year before meeting again at the Memorial Borisa Hanžekovića meeting in Zagreb, Croatia in September where the American prevailed in both.
Bracy carried the day in 10.17 as Omanyala settled second in 10.18 in Lucerne as the Kenyan timed 10.19 to finish third behind Bracy, who won in 9.97 in Zagreb followed by European 100m bronze medallist Jeremiah Azu in 10.14.
Basically, it will be sort of a rematch involving Omanyala, Bednarek, Brown and Blake after the Kenyan outclassed them at Botswana Golden Grand Prix, dashing to a wind-assisted 9.78.
Home athlete Letsile Tebogo came second in 9.91 followed by Bednarek and Brown in 10.02 and 10.06. Blake settled eighth in 10.39.
Brown was in top form when he finished second behind Tebogo in the 200m at the Botswana event, clocking 20.00 against Tebogo’s world lead of 19.87.
Blake came sixth in20.39.
