Omanyala: Africa’s finest sprinter upbeat ahead of indoor races in France

Reigning Commonwealth Games 100 m champion Ferdinand Omanyala will kick off his new season with a series of indoor races in France on Saturday.



Omanyala is expected to kick-start his French tour with the Miramas Metropole Meeting in Miramas, before heading out for the Meeting Mondeville four days later.



The African champion will then travel back to France for the Paris Indoor Meeting on February 11 before concluding his French tour on 15 February in Lievin where he broke his own national record.



The African and national 100 m record holder broke Kenya’s 60m national record in Lievin, France, last year.



Omanyala took to the track for his first-ever indoor championships at the Meeting Elite de Mirama – a World Athletics Indoor bronze meeting where he clocked an impressive 6.63 seconds over the 60 m race.



The mark is not only a new national record but also a new meeting record that had been standing for the past 17 years.



Despite being the only African in the seven-man contest, Omanyala beat Kayhan Ozer of Turkey who finished second in 6.67 seconds, and Viktor Contaret of France who timed 6.68 seconds to round off the podium.



Despite getting ready for the new season, Omanyala is optimistic about making his Diamond League debut this season in May.



Last season Omanyala had a fantastic season soon after winning last year’s Kip Keino Classic in 9.85 seconds, stunning American Fred Kerley to second place in 9.92 sec.



Omanyala also anchored 4x100m “Team Imeta” to a historic 4x100m victory at the African Senior Athletics Championships on 10 June at Cote d’or National Sports Complex, Mauritius.



He recently came in second after Marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge in the just concluded 19th edition of the Sports Personality of the Year Awards (Soya) gala at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi.