Africa's Fastest Man Ferdinand Omanyala Smashes National Record in 60m Sprint for Third Time

• African 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala clocked 6.57 seconds in the 60m sprint to eliminate his previous record of 6.60
• The sprinter however finished fourth in the 60m dash on Thursday, February 17 in a race won by Italy’s Marcell Jacobs
• Kenyans generally struggled to make podium finishes at the world indoor tour gold meeting in France

Ferdinand Omanyala smashed the national record in the 60 metres dash once again as he placed fourth at the Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais indoor meeting on Thursday, February 17.

The sprinter, who is currently Africa’s fastest man, clocked 6.57 seconds, and despite finishing fourth, his time was enough to beat his previous one of 6.60m which he set at Meeting Metz Monselle Athlelor five days ago.

Italy’s Marcell Jacobs, an Olympic 100m champion, won the race in 6.50 seconds while second and third place were occupied by Cravont Charlseton (6.52) and Elijah Hall (6.57).

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Omanyala’s record-breaking spree

The 26-year old first broke the national record in the 60-metre dash on February 4, at Meeting Elite de Miramas in France, clocking 6.63 seconds.

His dash beat the previous national record of 6.70 set by Paulvince Obuon back in 2005.

This was followed up by another impressive sprint at the Meeting Metz Monselle Athlelor.

How other Kenyans faired

Overall, it was a difficult night for Kenyans in France as they performed fairly average compared to their competitors.

In the men’s 2000m, Abel Kipsang came short of the national record, finishing in 4 minutes, 57.21 seconds.

Things were better for Eglay Nalianya, who secured a podium finish, emerging third in the women’s 800m with a time of 2:00.26.

In the 3000m, Kenyan duo of Jacob Krop and Nicholas Kimeli placed sixth and tenth respectively as Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma comfortably cruised to victory.

The world indoor 1500m record was also broken on Friday by Olympic Champion Jakob Ingebritsen, whose astonishingly fash run saw him finish the race with a time of 3:30.60, marginally beating the previous record by 0.44 seconds.

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Legendary athlete Dan Omwanza dies

Elsewhere, Sports Brief reported of the tragic death of legendary Kenyan athlete Dan Omwanza, aged 74.

Omwanza, who made a name for himself in the world of athletics during Kenya's independence days, is understood to have passed away on Wednesday, February 16, after a battle with illness.

His death was confirmed by his wife, Esther Moraa, who divulged the iconic athlete died at a Nairobi hospital where he was admitted with high blood pressure and stroke