Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala,
believes he is in peak shape for the 2025 season after four months of meticulous preparations.
Omanyala’s last race came at the Brussels Diamond League final on September
14, 2024, where he stormed to victory in
a 100m promotional event, clocking 10.07
seconds
With a well-earned break and rigorous
training behind him, the 2022 Commonwealth Games 100m champion is ready to fire on all cylinders.
“The preparations have been long, four
months have been good preparation and I
feel like I am ready so we will see,” Omanyala said.
Omanyala launched his 2025 campaign
at the Athletics Kenya (AK) track and field
meeting in Thika over the weekend.
Running on a murram track, he breezed
through the first-round heats, clocking 10.7
ahead of Tonny Wekesa (11.3) and Martin
Kariuki (11.5).
He cranked up the pace in the semi-finals,
posting 10.2 to dominate his heat, with
Dennis Nyongesa (10.5) and Clinton Aluvi
(10.7) trailing in second and third.
However, he opted out of the final, where
Boniface Mweresa (10.1) edged out Dennis Mwai (10.2) and Omanyala’s younger
brother, Isaac Omurwa (10.2), for the podium spots.
For Omanyala, competing on the murram
track was about reconnecting with his roots.
“I last competed like 10 years ago on a
murram track so I just wanted to connect
to my past because I have always wanted
to come back and see how it feels 10 years
later. Coming back here and connecting to
my past feels good,” he noted.
Despite the nostalgic return, the surface
presented its own set of challenges.
“The murram track is not the best because
when the wind blows, you get hit with some
debris which is not ideal,” he stated.
Beyond personal goals, Omanyala’s
presence in Thika was a statement
of encouragement to up-and-coming
sprinters.
“I was not competing because
of any competition or because of any
targets, I was there to tell other athletes we
are together.”
“I understand the struggles with limited stadiums, but we all have to start
somewhere,” he noted.
Currently Kenya’s two main
athletics venues—Moi
International Sports
Centre, Kasarani and
Nyayo Stadium—
remain closed for
renovations, limiting elite training
and competition facilities.
As the
World
Indoor
Championships
(March
21 – 23,
Nanjing,
China) approach, Omanyala is yet
to decide on his participation.
“The World Indoors is
coming in three weeks so we are
weighing our options.”
At last year’s edition in Glasgow,
Scotland, Omanyala clocked 6.56 seconds
to finish fourth in the 60m final, behind
Christian Coleman (6.41), Noah Lyles
(6.44) and Ackeem Blake (6.46).
Having already met the 10 seconds entry
mark for the Tokyo World Championships
with a 9.88 second place finish in Silesia last
year, Omanyala will be hoping to fine tune
his craft ahead of the showdown in the Japanese capital.