Commonwealth Games champion and Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala will now shift his focus to the upcoming Kip Keino classic meeting this weekend set to be staged at the Kasarani Stadium.
This comes after the 28-year-old set a new African and State record in Men’s 150 m at the just concluded Atlanta City Games, Georgia, United States of America.
His performance bettered Namibian Frankie Fredericks’s mark of 14.99, but he still finished third on the day behind two-time world 200m champion Noah Lyles and Erriyon Knighton.
However, despite the 150 m not being a World Athletics-recognised event, Omanyala still remains to be the African 100 m record holder following his 9.77-second display at the 2020 Kip Keino Classic.
With the Kip Keino classic meeting set for this weekend, the sensational sprinter is optimistic the stage is set for him to break the World record set by Jamaican legendary sprinter Usain Bolt.
“I have a good feeling this season that the record is going down, and I will break it a couple of times this year,” said Omanyala, who aims to run 9.65 this year,” an elated Omanyala said.
Omanyala will be competing in this year’s 100 meters race whereby he will be seeking to better his time despite strong opponents expected to compete against the African champion.
Meanwhile, World javelin champion Anderson Peters from Grenada and American sprints sensation Sha’Carri Richardson are in the country for Saturday’s Absa Kip Keino Classic at Kasarani.
Peters, who was elated to step on African soil for the first time, promised a memorable outing, especially with the 2015 world javelin champion Julius Yego, whom he described as a good friend.
However, Richardson declined to take press interviews as she occasionally used her hands to hide from the rolling press cameras.
Also in the country are 2020 Tokyo and 2022 world 200 m silver medallist Kenneth Bednarek from the USA, and the world 4x100m champions Canadian duo of Aaron Brown and Jerome Blake.
