Wayne Lumbasi
Kenya’s 🇰🇪 Ferdinand Omanyala has been crowned the new Africa’s 100m champion after outpacing South Africa’s 🇿🇦 Akani Simbine at the Athletics Championships.
Omanyala bagged gold after clocking 9.93s in the 100m race at the 22nd African Senior Athletics Championships in Port-Louis, Mauritius.
His victory was a bone of contention as it was too close to call as the two athletes appeared to have crossed the line at the same time. Omanyala broke Nigeria’s 🇳🇬 Seun Ogunkoya Championships record of 9.94 which was set in Dakar, Senegal back in 1998.
With the win, Omanyala has handed Kenya its first Africa 100 metres gold title in 32 years. The previous record was held by Joseph Gikonyo who won both the 100 metre and 200-metre titles at the 1990 Cairo Championships.
Omanyala now looks to emulate Gikonyo’s feat with a double win as he is set to run the 200 metres event on Saturday, June 11.
Omanyala has set his sights on breaking Jamaican icon Usain Bolt’s world record in the 100m. Bolt’s name went into the history books back in 2009 during the IAAF World Championships in Berlin after he posted 9.58 seconds. He contends that he has all it takes to outdo Bolt and set a new world record. The 26-year-old currently holds the Kenyan and African record at 9.77 seconds set last year in the Moi International Stadium in Nairobi.
