Omanyala Aiming To Become First African In 16 Years To Make World Indoors 60m Podium
Reigning Africa and Commonwealth Games 100m champion, Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya ran 6.52 seconds twice in one day to qualify for the 60m final of the World Indoor Championships scheduled to hold Friday night in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Kenya is one of two Africans that will run in the final with Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme neding to run a new 6.52 national record to also make it to the final.
It is the Kenyan however that most Africans will be looking up to as the continent is desperate to produce its first athlete in 16 years to make the podium in the event.
The last time an African mounted the podium was 2008 when Nigeria’s Olusoji Fasuba made history as the first man from the continent to win the 60m title.
The best Africans had prior to that year were two silver medal wins by Ghana’s John Myles-Mills in 1989 and Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks in 1993.
The Nigerian duo of Chidi Imoh (1991) and Davidson Ezinwa (1997) also made it to the podium to claim bronze medals.
