Omanyala ready to break African record for first Diamond League 100m win on fifth attempt

Reigning African and Commonwealth Games 100m champion, Ferdinand Omanyala is ready to break his almost two year old African record as he sets his sight on
winning his first 100m win at a Diamond League meeting.

The Kenyan made his Diamond League debut at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, Belgium in September 2021 and has competed in three more in 2022 with
his best result his second place finish at the Meeting de Paris in June where he came second behind world champion, Fred Kerley in June.

In the absence of Kerley at the Herculis in Monaco on Friday, the 27 year old will feel he can speed past those in the starting blocks with him including two
on-form Africans, Akani Simbine, the former African record holder and Botswana’s Leslie Tebogo.

Omanyala says he is not unaware of the threat posed by his African brothers and feels the 9.77 African record he holds since 2021 could go at the Stade Luois
2 on Friday.

The Kenyan has never competed over the 100m with Tebogo who ran a lifetime best of 9.91 last year and a 19.87 in the half lap race this year but holds a 6-1 head to head lead over Simbine including the two so far this year.

‘I feel something good is going to happen in Monaco. My African record is at stake here and I am going to break it again if the weather permits,’ Omanyala told Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.

Omanyala ran 9.77 at the Kip Keino Classic in 2021 to break the 9.84 African record set two months earlier by Simbine.