Ferdinand Omanyala and Bayanda Wazala during the Kip Keino Classic/FILEAfrica’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, will reignite rivalry with South African prodigy Bayanda Walaza at the Brussels Diamond League on Friday“Africa’s fastest man is back in Brussels on August 22,” the organisers said in a statement.
The duel carries added spice, coming just weeks before the Tokyo World Championships and barely three months since Walaza stunned Omanyala at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on May 31.
Australia’s Lachlan Kennedy won the Nairobi race in 9.98 with Walaza second in 10.03 as Omanyala rounded off the podium in 10.07.
For Omanyala, Brussels presents an opportunity to rediscover the sub-10-second magic that once made him Africa’s undisputed sprint king.
He is yet to dip under the barrier this season.
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 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 clean sweep for Kenya.
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, yet again behind Simbine, who won in a sizzling 9.95.
In the European circuit, he placed third in Rome (10.07) and second in two Estonian meetings (10.15 and 10.35).
On June 26, he claimed the national 100m title in 10.09 ahead of Steve Odhiambo (10.27) and Babu (10.31).
After the nationals, Omanyala revealed he would take a month’s break to restrategise.
“I am taking a month’s break. I have been on the road since the start of my season,” Omanyala told the Star.
The 29-year-old returned to competitive running this month, placing second at a Serbian meeting (10.25), top in Andorf (10.03) and eighth (10.26) at the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, Walaza comes into the showdown buoyed by strong performances at the World University Games in Berlin, Germany, held in July.
The South African claimed the 100m (10.16) and 200m (20.63) titles and a silver medal in the men’s 4x100m (38.80) alongside Mthi Mthimkulu, Mlenga and Kyle Zinn.
Adding firepower to the stacked field are American Brandon Hicklin, South African Gift Leotlela, Elvis Africa of the Netherlands and Jamaica’s Sandrey Davison.
