Africa Senior Athletics Championships: Ferdinand Omanyala beats Simbine to win gold
By Neville Amimo, June 9, 2022
Ferdinand Omanyala’s long wait for a medal in Kenya colours finally arrived when he won the men’s 100m gold medal in the Africa Senior Athletics championships going on at the Cote d’Or National Sports Complex in Mauritius.
Omanyala, who is Africa’s fastest man beat defending champion Akani Simbine of South Africa to win gold. Both sprinters clocked 9.93 seconds in the photo finish.
Africa’s fastest man who last month said that ‘he likes chasing from behind’ rallied from behind to catch up with Simbine who was already flying.
Kenya had not won a medal in the 100m for 32 years and when Omanyala stepped on the track, he had one mission, emulate former sprinting ace Joseph Gikonyo and announce Kenya’s new dominance in the distance. Gikonyo won the men’s 100m and 200m during the 1990 Africa Athletics championships held in Cairo.
Omanyala eased to the final on Wednesday afternoon after easily winning his heat in a time of 10.07 with Simbine winning his heat in 10.09.
“Running 10.07 was good, but it could have been better if they didn’t keep us at the blocks for 20 minutes,” he said after cruising to the final.