Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinard Omanyala, has done it again.
The Olympian pulled off another first by setting a new world lead time of 10.00 seconds during the third Athletics Kenya Track and Field field meeting at the Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday.
The time is the third fastest time ran on Kenyan soil.
“It’s a world lead. 10.00 seconds. Looking forward to a better and great season 2022,” Omanyala said in a tweet.
Omanyala beat Samuel Imeta from Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to second place in 10.36 and Stephen Oluoch, a soldier, finished third in 10.55.
Kenya Prisons’ Hebson Ochieng clocked 10.56 to finish fourth while Robinson Mutende of KDF placed fifth in 10.71 respectively.
The new record is Omanyala’s latest in a series of glass-shuttering achievements for the young athlete in recent days.
Omanyala is the reigning African record holder in a time of 9.77.
He also ran the second fastest time last year at the Kip Keino Classic, finishing behind American Trayvon Bromell who won the race in 9.76 making him and Omanyala the seventh and eighth fastest men ever in 100m.
This was the first time Omanyala beat Jacobs, the Olympics 100m gold medallist. The Italian finished second in a season’s best 6.57 as Arthur Cisse from Cote d’Ivoire came third in 6.59.
It was a swift and sweet revenge for Omanyala against Jacobs, who beat him in the same event last year. The Italian won in a personal best 6.50 seconds as Omanyala settled fourth but in a national record time of 6.57sec.
It was a glorious end to Omanyala’s World Athletics Indoor Tour where he has won in three events, breaking his own national record twice and finishing second in one.
Omanyala finished second at Elite Indoor Track Miramas meeting in 6.60sec on February 3 before winning the Mondeville Meeting in a national record time of 6.55sec on February 8.
Omanyala then prevailed at Meeting de Paris in 6.56sec on February 11, missing his own record by 0.1sec.
Commonwealth 800m champion Mary Moraa improved her personal best, clocking 2:00.61 to finish second in the women’s 800m behind the winner Keely Hodgkinson of Britain, who ran a world leading time of 1:57.71.
More details from Daily Nation
