Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala’s life and athletics career will never be the same, the 25 year old rocketed into a new realm of sprinting running in his personal best times and breaking his own national records while making a name for himself in the athletics circuit. The university of Nairobi athlete has been impressive in his rise, earning himself a reputation of discipline strength and self confidence.

In this write up we look at the six times Ferdinand broke his own record or other people records in the year 2021.

TOKYO OLYMPICS GAMES 

In the heats Ferdinand ran a time of 10.01 to finish third making history as the first Kenyan to reach the semi-final in the men’s 100m in a national record. He went a step further with an impressive 10.00sec in the semi-final breaking his own national record to finish third behind eventual medalists Canada’s Andre De Grasse and Fred Kerley of the USA. Unfortunately he did not make the final.

INTERNATIONAL JOSKO LAUFMEETING ANDORF

Omanyala in the form of his life broke his own national record again running a sub 10 seconds in the 100m race at the Int. JOSKO Laufmeeting, Pramtalstadion, Andorf, shattering his own national record twice in a day in Austria first with a time of 9.96 in the semi-final and he went faster in the final running an impressive time of 9.86, becoming the first Kenyan to smash the sub 10 seconds mark in an athlete meet and becoming the 3rd fastest African of all time, he also joins an elite group of sprinters including the world’s fastest human Usain Bolt, to achieve that feat.

MOTONET Grand Prix, FINLAND

More glory came Ferdinand Omanyala’s way on Thursday, August 20 as the Kenyan sprinter triumphed in the Lahti moto net grand prix, Finland. Unlike his previous impressive exploits, however, Omanyala finished the race at the Motonet GP Lahti in 10.09 seconds. The time was still enough to ensure a first place finish as he beat Samuel Samuelsson Ikaalisten (10.33) and Victor Thor (10.54), a Finland duo who finished in second and third place respectively. The triumph means Omanyala has now won a second consecutive 100m race in the space of five days.

MAKING OF CHAMPIONS Grand Prix

Omanyala began his record breaking year in Lagos Nigeria at the Making of Champions athletics meet at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, Nigeria where he powered to a new lifetime best and National Record (NR) of 10.01s for a dominant win in his heat.

He obliterated the previous record of 10.14s set by Mark Otieno Odhiambo in 2015 and by virtue of that time, qualified for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games with the standard set at 10.05s.

Athletics Gauteng North (AGN) South Africa

In South Africa Omanyala ran a time of 10.06 at the Athletics Gauteng North (AGN) league 2, this result was however no ratified due to certain world athletics standards not being met.

 

 

KENYA Olympic Games Trials,

Set to book his place in his first Olympic Games Omanyala at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, Nairobi was ready to show the world what he was made of, first in a semi-final time of 10.12 though a national record would not have seen him qualify for the grand event in Tokyo. He subsequently, blazed the tracks in the final events in a blistering time of 10.01 equaling his time in Lagos Nigeria to book his ticket to Tokyo and become one of two Kenyans to participate in the 100m sprint race the games in July this year.

Speaking with Glitzsports, he asserted that his rise is as a testament to his dedication to his craft. On beating his role model Jamaican Yohan Blake, Ferdinand said “I do not look at anyone during races, my main focus was on running a seasons best. I ran like I was running on my own, I did not look at my side, basically competing against the time and to my surprise I had beaten the 3rd fastest man in history which gave me confidence to go further.

The printer looks forward to enjoying this record breaking moments and rise to limelight ” I hope to continue to run fast and continue to do the best I can in every race. I believe this is not the limit, things are just getting started, this is my first professional season and my time will only get better.

Ferdinand has competed in the Kenyan university championships and was part of the team that represented the Kenyan University sports association.