Omanyala, Jacobs on a collision course

Commonwealth and African 100 metres champion Ferdinand Omanyala could face Italian Olympic gold medallist Marcell Lamont Jacobs in the men’s 60m final at the Meeting Lievin Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais on Wednesday.

Commonwealth 800m title holder Mary Moraa, Abel Kipsang, who finished fourth in the 1,500m race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and 800m runners Cornelius Tuwei and Collins Kipruto are the other Kenyans who will be in action.

Incidentally, Omanyala and Jacobs, who is the Tokyo Olympics 100m champion, faced off in the 60m race at the same venue last year.

The Italian prevailed in a personal best time of 6.50 seconds and Omanyala finished fourth in 6.57 seconds — a national record.

Both athletes participated in the World Athletics Indoor Championships held on March 18 to 20 last year in Štark Arena, Belgrade, Serbia. However, their paths did not cross.

Omanyala won his second heat in 6.62 seconds but his dream ended in the semi-finals where he finished fourth in 6.64 seconds.

Jacobs claimed the fourth heat in 6.53 seconds, he also won the semis-finals in 6.45 seconds before winning the world indoor 60m title in a personal best of 6.41 seconds.

The two athletes also enlisted for the World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, USA on July 15–24 last year.

Omanyala faced a travel hitch as he received his visa late and arrived in the US hours before his race. However, he battled to the semi-finals in his maiden appearance at the world championship.

Jacobs failed to start his semi-final race owing to a recurrent injury.

Home athlete Fred Kerley, whom Omanyala had beaten at the Kip Keino Classic, won in 100m in May last year in a world lead of 9.85 seconds against 9.92, called the shots in Oregon. Kerley won the world title in 9.86 seconds on home soil.

Omanyala has competed in three events in 60m in France this year, while Jacobs had competed in only one race in Poland, his first since August last year.

Omanyala finished second during the Elite Indoor Track Miramas meeting in 6.60 seconds on February 3, he won the Mondeville Meeting in a national record time of 6.55 second on February 8 before prevailing at Meeting de Paris in 6.56 seconds, missing his own record by 0.1sec on February 11.

Jacobs, the Olympic 4x100 relay champion, exhibited form on return, winning his 60m semi-final in 6.61sec before downing 6.57sec in the final at Orlen Copernicus Cup on February 4 at Atlas Arena, Łódź in Poland.

Olympic 4x100 relay champion Jacobs will line up in the 60m in Liévin for the third consecutive year. The Liévin race features five sprinters with a PB of 9.85 in the 100m or faster.

“I simply want to finish my indoor season in style and then turn to outdoor,” said Omanyala, who hopes to improve on his national record of 6.55 seconds.

Omanyala said getting to face the likes of Jacobs will improve competition.

On the other hand, Moraa, who finished fourth in 2:01.51 on her debut in the World Indoor Tour at Orlen Copernicus Cup in Poland on February 8, hopes to improve when she faces former world 800m champion Halimah Nakaayi from Uganda.

Nakaayi finished fifth behind Moraa in Orlen in 2:01.64 before going on to win in Val de Reuil, France in a World leading time of 1.59.55 on Saturday.

Moraa and Nakaayi will take on Jamaica’s Natoya Goule, who won the 800m in 1:59.62 in Staten Island in Jamaica, and Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu, who finished fourth in the 1,500m in 3:57.60 in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Moraa, who is also the world 800m bronze medallist, is also eying a better show as she targets to run under two minutes after her 2:01 opener.

“My journey has just started and this will be my second indoor race,” she said.

Kipsang, the world indoor 1,500m bronze medallist, takes the battle to Olympic and European 1,500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Last year, Ingebrigtsen won by five seconds, breaking the European Indoor record after clocking 3:31.80 to improve Moroccan great Hicham El Guerrouj’s meeting record by 0.21.

Also in the race is Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera, who won in Liévin in 2019 and 2020. In 2019, he broke the 1,500m world indoor record when he clocked 3:31.04 in Birmingham six days later.

Tuwei and Kipruto will take on Adam Kszczot from Poland, Elliot Giles from Great Britain and Mariano Garcia from Spain.

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