Omanyala, Bruintjies face-off at Nyayo Stadium

Africa 100 metres record holder Ferdinand Omanyala and Africa 100m bronze medallist Henricho Bruintjies from South Africa have promised to  bring down the Nyayo National Stadium roof this weekend.

Will Athletics Kenya separate the pair before they potentially face-off in the final at the second Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting starting on Friday?

The duo will be meeting for the first time since the Africa Athletics Championships at Cote d'Or National Sports Complex, St Pierre, Mauritius on June 9, last year.

Omanyala, who was fresh from winning the Kip Keino Classic, clocked 9.93sec to claim his maiden continental title, relegating South Africa’s Akani Simbine to second place in a thrilling photo-finish.

Bruintjies, the 2018 Commonwealth Games 100m silver medallist, came third in 10.01sec.

Omanyala would then go for a double by anchoring “Team Imeta” to victory in the 4x100m relay, beating South Africa’s team that had Simbine and Bruintjies to second place at the continental event.

Omanyala and Bruintjies, who are now training mates, predicted sub 10 seconds and perhaps a stadium record if the current warm weather prevails.

“For someone to beat Omanyala, one has to strike a sub 10 performance and that is what I am looking forward to,” said Bruintjies, who called on Kenyans to turnout in numbers.

Bruintjies has been training in Kenya alongside Omanyala in search of fast times besides qualifying for World Athletics Championships scheduled for August 19 to 27 in Budapest and 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

“I am calling on whoever thinks that he can beat me to come and try his luck,” said Omanyala. “In fact, I might hit sub 10 seconds or even deeper since my body feels great.”

Omanyala said he has had “quite a great indoor season in France" where he wanted to gauge how he can pick up speed.

“I came out from indoor with a national record of 6.54seconds in France and that speaks volume hence I am looking forward to a splendid two-day event.”

"I have improved my 60m and I now want the same in 100m outdoor since I have a good last part of the race.”

Besides Omanyala and Bruintjies, others to watch out for in 100m are former national 200m champion Collins Omae, Samuel Imeta and Dan Kiviasi.

Uganda will be well represented by Pius Adome and Emmanuel Aboda, who will compete in both 100m and 200m, Benson Okot in 100m and Shida Leni in 200m.

Meanwhile, Athletics Kenya have announced that registration of senior athletes will close on Thursday evening and that no entries will be allowed on Friday.

A statement from AK said that the registration for all senior athletes is mandatory and that there will also be vetting for the Under-18 and Under-20 athletes on Friday before the start of the event.

The second Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting is doubling as the trials for the East and Central Africa Under-18 and Under-20 Athletics  Championships set for March 10 to 11 at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, Dar es Salaam.