WIC Glasgow 24: Omanyala set for stern test against American, Jamaican top rivals

In his hunt for a first World Indoor title, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala will face top rivals during the Glasgow Championship Games that will begin on Friday, March 1, 2024.

Omanyala, the Commonwealth Games 100m champion, who took 0.03 off his own national 60m record by clocking 6.51 to win in Bercy on February 11, will face USA’s Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman.

Lyles, who is the world 100m and 200m champion, is hoping to complete his title collection when he competes in Glasgow, where he will seek his first world indoor medal.

The 2023 World Athlete of the Year in men’s track tops this year’s world list with a personal best of 6.43.

Omanyala and Lyles are expected to face stiff competition from Coleman, who had run the world record of 6.34 in the same arena six years earlier.

Confident Lyles

The Lyles and the 2019 world champion will be one of the highlights of these championships, with hopes of further fast times soaring given the recent completion of a new track at the Glasgow Arena.

“My confidence has now skyrocketed. Let’s go get a world indoor medal. This is my weakest event. So come outdoor, whew, fireworks,” Lyles said in a past interview with World Athletics.

Coleman’s prospects are high, given a classic bullet from a gun over 60 meters. He went on to win the world indoor title in Birmingham soon after setting his world record.

Omanyala, Coleman, and Lyles are probably not resting easy given a threat that will be expected to come from Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake.

The 22-year-old Jamaican has a best of 6.42 and clocked 6.45, finishing just 0.01 behind Lyles in Boston to place himself third on this year’s world list.

Japan’s Shuhei Tada, who has clocked a personal best of 6.53 this season, Liberia’s Emmanuel Matadi, and Britain’s Jeremiah Azu, winner of the fourth World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Torun in 6.57, which helped him earn a wild card entry to Glasgow, are other notable rivals.