Ferdinand Omanyala: Africa’s Fastest Man Cries Foul Over New Qualifying Standards Set by World Athletics

Ferdinand Omanyala: Africa’s Fastest Man Cries Foul Over New Qualifying Standards Set by World Athletics

Martin Moses
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:09 PM
  • Ferdinand Omanyala has complained about the new strict qualifying standards set by World Athletics for next year's championships in Budapest
  • World Athletics announced new times for all the disciplines and Omanyala is now worried that not many people will be able to achieve the 10 seconds mark set
  • Omanyala's personal best time is 9.77 seconds which made him the African record holder

Africa's fastest man and record holder Ferdinand Omanyala has questioned the new qualifying standards set by the World Athletics for Budapest 2023.

Budapest will host the next edition of the World Athletics Championships next year after a successful edition in Oregon, USA.

Ferdinand Omanyala, World Athletics Championships
Ferdinand Omanyala celebrates after winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Photo by Tim Clayton.
Source: Getty Images

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The world governing body for Athletics stoked controversy when it revised the qualification times athletes need to meet to qualify for the event. The qualification times were reduced in every event except in the 400 metres men and 800 metres women, where the times were revised upwards.

This means that athletes will now have to dig deeper to qualify for the Budapest games. Nation Sports reports that Omanyala isn't intrigued by the new rules.

This year, we have only 25 going under 10 seconds, and 11 are Americans. That means the rest of the world has to put in the work. That means that Athletics Kenya has to put in more electronic races for our athletes to have a chance of qualifying.

Omanyala's discipline of 100 metres has been reduced from 10.05 seconds to 10 seconds. Omanyala will be hoping for a greater showing in Budapest after off-field issues curtailed his efforts to challenge for the world title in Oregon.

A subpar 10 performance for every athlete going to Budapest will definitely increase the competitiveness of the field, with Usain Bolt's record of 9.58 seconds still intact. Fred Kerley is the reigning world champion after clocking 9.86 seconds.

Remembering how Jacquline Kiplimo helped a disabled athlete drink water

Sports Brief had earlier reported that 2010 will remain a perfect example that humanity still exists despite riches and wealth.

The 2010 Zheng-Kai marathon saw a Kenyan athlete Jacqueline Kiplimo sacrifice a hefty grand prize and a shot at glory. Kiplimo chose to help a differently-abled athlete drink water which made her lose the first spot.

Kiplimo noticed that a Chinese athlete who was also participating in the race was struggling to open a water bottle in one of the drink stops.

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Martin Moses
Martin Moses is a sports journalist with over five years of experience in media. He graduated from Multimedia University of Kenya (Bachelor of Journalism, 2017-2021)
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