Ferdinand Omanyala at the National Championships/ TEDDY MULEIAfrica’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, will take a month off competition to strategise in his chase for the elusive sub-10 seconds before the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, in September.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games champion is yet to dip under 10 seconds since opening his season on March 12 in South Africa.
Omanyala opened his campaign with back-to-back races at the ASA Grand Prix in South Africa, clocking 10.22 for third in the first leg before bouncing back to win the second in 10.08.
He won the Uganda National Trials on March 20, clocking 10.09, leading compatriots Meshack Babu (10.41) and Isaac Omurwa (10.62) in a Kenyan clean sweep.
In his first major outing of the season at the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix, Omanyala clocked 10 seconds to place behind in-form South African Akani Simbine, who clocked 9.90.
South African Retshidisitswe Mlenga clocked 10.15 for third. Omanyala’s Diamond League campaign has been an interesting one.
In Xiamen on April 26, he posted 10.13 for second place to trail Simbine (9.99), before struggling to a 10.25-last-place finish in Shanghai, where Simbine (9.98) triumphed ahead of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson (9.99) and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (10.03).
Omanyala clocked 10.05 for third place in Rabat, his third Diamond League outing, yet again behind Simbine, who won in a sizzling 9.95.
Back home, Omanyala headlined the Kip Keino Classic on May 31 in front of a raucous Nairobi crowd.
But the dream would have to wait, as he settled for third in 10.07 behind Australia’s Lachlan Kennedy (9.98) and South Africa’s Bayanda Walaza (10.03).
In Europe, he placed third in Rome (10.07), second in Estonia (10.15) and third again in another Estonian meeting (10.35).
His most recent outing came last Friday at the Athletics Kenya National Championships at the Ulinzi Sports Complex, where he powered to the national 100m title in 10.09 ahead of Steve Odhiambo (10.27) and Babu (10.31).
In an exclusive interview, Omanyala revealed that he’s now taking a short break to regroup before launching his final assault on that sub-10 milestone.
“I am taking a month’s break. I have been on the road since the start of my season,” said Omanyala, who surpassed the 10-second Tokyo entry mark at the 2024 Silesia Diamond League on August 25, clocking 9.88.
“This was the last race for me in this phase; my next races will be in August as I continue to chase that sub-10.”
“The race (at Ulinzi Sports) was good, I expected a sub-10 but we have to wait a little longer,” he added.
Despite all this, the 28-year-old takes pride in his consistency.
“We did not do much in this phase because it was mostly about maintaining podiums in each race, of which we did in 11 out of 12 races,” he observed.
During the break, Omanyala will intensify training in his final build-up for Tokyo.
“We are going stronger in training to ensure we get better before the World Championships,” he said.
