Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, believes a reunion with his former coach Duncan Ayiemba will reignite his blistering sprint form as he braces for a pivotal 2026 season.
Omanyala, who parted ways with coach Geoffrey Kimani after a turbulent 2025 campaign, is returning to the man who once unlocked his lightning speed.
It was under Ayiemba’s watch that the Kenyan sprint star clocked his 9.77-second African record at the 2021 Kip Keino Classic.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games champion, in an exclusive interview with the Star, revealed that the split with Kimani was not a unilateral decision, but one taken collectively after a season review.
“I am going back to work with Dan for next season. We had a two-year contract with Kimani, which ended," he said.
"It was not my decision alone; my management and sponsors were involved."
He added that a review was done, and hence the decision to part ways with Kimani was reached.
“Of course, a review is done, and then we decide if we proceed with the contract or not. That is what we did.”
The 29-year-old sprinter is convinced that Ayiemba, who he says knows the intricacies of his biomechanics, is the right man to help him rediscover his spark in 2026.
“He (Ayiemba) knows my body in and out, so we’ll see how 2026 goes."
"For now, it’s about taking one day at a time. I don’t want to make promises. It’s about trusting the process,” he said.
The Kenyan powerhouse has endured a dip in form across his 2025 campaign, failing to breach the sub-10-second barrier in any of his 100m races.
This is in stark contrast to his 2024 season, where he recorded four sub-10 runs, including a 9.79, then a world-leading time.
Omanyala’s 2025 season unravelled at the just-concluded Tokyo World Championships, where he bowed out in the semi-finals after running 10.09 for fifth place.
It was yet another heartbreak on the global stage for Omanyala after his previous outing in Eugene and Budapest.
In Eugene 2022, he fell short at the same stage, posting 10.14.
In Budapest 2023, he reached the final but could only manage seventh in 10.07 as American Noah Lyles stormed to victory in 9.83.
He kicked off his 2025 season with the ASA Athletics Grand Prix in South Africa, clocking 10.22 in the first leg before coming back strong to post 10.08 in the second leg.
He then featured at the 3rd Uganda National trials, winning the 100m in 10.09 ahead of compatriots Meshack Babu (10.41) and his brother Isaac Omurwa (10.62).
His next race at the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix was no different as he fell short of the sub-10-second mark again, clocking 10 seconds to finish second.
Omanyala’s Diamond League campaign saw him clock 10.13 for second place in Xiamen, 10.25 for ninth place in Shanghai, 10.05 for second place in Rabat, 10.01 for third place at the Rome Golden Gala and 10.49 for seventh place in Brussels.
His other races over the 100m have seen him place third at the Kip Keino Classic (10.07), a second-place finish at the Serbia Athletics Meeting (10.25) and a win at the Lauf meeting in Andorf, Austria, clocking 10.03.
But beneath those numbers lay a deeper struggle.
Omanyala revealed that a torn tendon, diagnosed in June, had silently undermined his performances all season.
“We had setbacks with injuries. I had a torn tendon in June, but we didn’t see it in training, so it was building up."
"Every time I trained, I was aggravating it. It kept bleeding, formed a bulge and limited a lot of muscle movements,” he explained. “We only discovered it after scans in France a few weeks ago.”
Still, Omanyala insists that the injury, not fatigue from racing, was to blame.
“Last year we did fewer races, and that didn’t work for me because I’m a racer. The plan this year was right, but the injury disrupted everything,” he added.
