Two indefatigable teenage sprinters from Riooga Mixed Secondary School have emerged as Kenya’s next 100m sensations, with Brian Okoth clocking a blistering 10.07 seconds to shatter Ferdinand Omanyala’s maiden record, and his fierce rival Daniel Wasike hot on his heels in a dramatic clash that is turning heads across the athletics world.

The duo’s story began with Okoth transferring from Sipala Secondary in Bungoma County to Riooga Mixed Secondary School in Nyamira County, while Wasike also moved from Andersen Mixed Secondary School in Kitale, Trans Nzoia County, and joined Okoth at Riooga, where the school’s Riooga Athletics Training Camp is domiciled.

Okoth was identified by Riooga camp coaches Moses Saiti, Thomas Osano and the school’s Principal Haron Ochonga (coordinator of the facility) during the 2024 Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) Term One athletics championship at Machakos Boys High School.

Saiti is a sprints coach at Riooga, Osano is the camp’s long-distance trainer, and Principal Ochonga serves as the camp coordinator.
In an interview with PD Wikendi, Saiti said, “We identified Okoth during the 2024 national athletics at Machakos Boys High School. Okoth was then a Form Two student at Sipala Secondary in Webuye East Sub-county in Bungoma County.”

“We talked to Sipala School Principal Henry Onyango and Okoth’s mother, Jackline Atieno Onyango. They agreed the best place to nurture Okoth’s talent was at Riooga,” Saiti recalled.

Saiti continued, “Wasike transferred from Andersen Mixed Secondary School in Term Three after we spoke to then-school Principal Julius Mipei, who has since transferred to Chesaita Secondary School.”

He declared, “Okoth and Wasike are on course to break any of Omanyala’s latest 100m race timings and conquer regional and global realms. They are going to be the new kids on the block in the 100m race and are destined for regional and global athletics championships.”

He also revealed that Okoth’s school Principal, Ochonga, has already acquired a passport for the athlete.

Fast forward to 2024, Okoth and Wasike represented Riooga at the Nyanza Regional Secondary Schools Games, where their rivalry in the 100m race manifested.

They both qualified for the national athletics event in Machakos, where Wasike clinched the 100m title.

Okoth finished second and qualified for the East Africa (EA) Games in Mbale, Uganda, where he upstaged Wasike and was crowned EA champion.

During the 2025 Nyanza Regional School Games at Uriri Boys High School in Migori County, the rivalry between the two sprinters continued.

Okoth won the Nyanza regional 100m race, clocking 10.34 seconds and smashing Omanyala’s maiden 100m race time of 10.37 seconds, set in Kakamega in 2015 shortly after switching from rugby to athletics while a student at the University of Nairobi (UoN). Omanyala had been prompted to venture into athletics by a friend.

During the national 100m final, Okoth emerged champion, further dipping under Omanyala’s maiden time with a clocking of 10.07 seconds.

Wasike finished second, timed at 10.09 seconds, also breaking Omanyala’s first record. He also won the 200m race and was part of the Nyanza regional team that clinched the 4x100m relay.

He was named the competition’s Best Athlete. Both qualified for the EA Games, which Bonke said are slated for Nakuru City from August 14 to 25.

Elsewhere during the Western Regional School Games at St Mathias Secondary School in Busia County, Anthony Wesonga from Bukhalarire Secondary School shattered both Okoth’s new record and Omanyala’s maiden race time of 10.36 seconds.

Wesonga triumphed with a time of 10.06 seconds, with Musa Juma from St. Paul Narati in Bungoma County finishing second in 10.09 seconds—also breaking Omanyala’s initial record.

The momentous results from Okoth, Wasike, Wesonga and Juma astonished Nyanza and Western regional athletics officials, led by the regions’ games secretaries Tom Thomas Odhiambo and Quinto Omusugu, respectively.

Speaking to this writer, Odhiambo and Omusugu said Nyanza and Western regions have youthful athletes with great athletics potential.

They lambasted Athletics Kenya (AK) for failing to deploy scouts during KSSSA games, with Omusugu (also the national KSSSA assistant Secretary-General) retorting, “AK is quick to dismiss momentous times clocked by student athletes, yet they never send officials and scouts to KSSSA games.”

Meanwhile, Okoth, Wasike, Wesonga, and Juma qualified for the KSSSA National Games at Shanzu Teachers Training College (STTC) in Mombasa, where an epic 100m race battle unfolded.

Osano, who won the 10,000m gold medal for Kenya during the Africa Games in Egypt and finished fourth in Tokyo in 1991 (and now also a coach at Okoth’s Riooga camp) remarked, “Brian Okoth is the best out of all those 100m student athletes.”

Wesonga’s coach, Paul Bonke Okumu of Bukhalarire, equally exuded confidence stating, “Despite a nagging ankle injury Wesonga has, which we have managed through physiotherapy, the athlete will upstage Okoth.”

Coach Osano attributed the 100m win to hard work, intense training and great discipline.