Ferdinard Omanyala is a renowned Kenyan sprinter who is versatile in the 100 and 200 meter races.
Born on January 2, 1996 in Bungoma county, he is one of five children of Fred Omurwa and Shikanga Omurwa.
The 26-year-old sprinter attended Friends School Kamusinga and later joined the University of Nairobi where he pursued a Bachelor of Science degree.
Omanyala is married to Laventa Omanyala and together they have a son.
In December 2021, he joined the National Police where he still works to date.
Omanyala's career in athletics dates back to 2015 while at the university.
He won the national Olympics trials over the 100m distance in a time of 10.37s.
However, he fell short of the 10.16s standard time for the Olympics qualification.
Omanyala's breakthrough came on March 30, 2021 in Lagos Nigeria, at the “Making of Champions" event where he clocked 10.01 seconds and finished third in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics semi-finals by the same margin.
On September 18, 2021, he topped the season with an impressive African record of 9.77s at the Kip Keino Classic.
On Wednesday night, Omanyala won gold at the ongoing Commonwealth games in a time of 10.02s.
He is also the African record holder and 8th fastest man of all time in the 100 meters after in a time of 9.77 set on September 18, 2021.
Omanyala has singlehandedly managed to deconstruct the myth that Kenya only has the capacity to produce middle and long-distance runners.
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