Ferdinand Omanyala Leads Diamond League Standings Ahead of World Champion Fred Kerley

• Ferdinand Omanyala tops the Diamond League standings after taking part and excelling in three races
• He has recorded three podium places in as many weeks
• Fred Kerley, the World 100-metre champion, is second after winning two races

Ferdinand Omanyala is on course to qualify for the Diamond League finals, with the Commonwealth champion leading the standings after five legs.

Omanyala raced in his second-ever Diamond League race when he took part against an elite field at the Rabat Diamond League on May 28. He then followed it up with back-to-back races in Florence, Italy and Paris, France.

The fastest man in Africa grabbed podium places in all three races -he came in third in Morocco before claiming two consecutive second-place finishes in Italy and France.

World 100-metre champion, Fred Kerley won the Rabat and Florence legs. Noah Lyles beat Omanyala in a photo finish in Paris.

However, the fact that Kerley did not participate in France and Lyles did not participate in the first two sees Omanyala lead the standings after meets in Doha, Rabat, Florence, Paris, and Oslo. Kerley was in the opening Diamond Doha League but raced in the longer 200-metre event.

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Wanda Diamond League rules

As explained on the Diamond League's website, the lucrative games often consist of 15 meets in different countries throughout the course of the year. The one-day meets see athletes compete in various disciplines in 14 cities from May to September, with the top athletes qualifying for the final in Eugene on September 16 and 17.

In each of the first 14 meetings, the top eight athletes are awarded points based on their finishing position. Number one gets 8 points, number two gets 7 points, number three gets 6 points, and so on until the eighth athlete.

For the final in Eugene, the top six in the field events; the top eight in the 100m, 200m, 400m, and 800m; and the top ten in the 1500m and long-distance events are taken after the accumulation of the points tally from the 14 events.

The final is a winner-take-all competition for one athlete to be crowned the Diamond League champion. Trayvon Bromell is the reigning 100m champion.

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With this in mind, Omanyala currently leads the 2023 standings with 20 points, four ahead of Kerley, with former African champion Akani Simbine in third with 12 points.

Men's 100m 2023 standings

*Figures courtesy of World Athletics.

The next Diamond League race will take place on June 30 in Laussane before meets in Stockholm and Silesia. Omanyala is not expected to return to any event before the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

At the same time, Wycliffe Kinyamal leads the 800m standings with 17 points, one ahead of former world U-20 Champion, Emmanuel Wanyonyi.

Fastest women in 2023

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Marie-Josée Ta Lou is undoubtedly the best female sprinter Africa has ever produced. The Ivory Coast star has often graced the track with grit and determination, collecting a couple of World medals along the way.

Her only mistake was competing in the same era as the all-conquering Jamaican duo of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah. Shericka Jackson has also immersed herself in the debate of late.

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Sports Brief also reported that the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, are less than two months away, with preparations hitting top gear ahead of the highly anticipated event.

The Budapest showdown will come hot on the heels of the rescheduled Oregon meeting last year and athletes like Ferdinand Omanyala will be seeking to make amends.

So far, so good and it's looking good for him. He might have failed to win either of the three Diamond League meets he participated in, but he is still the fastest man in the world this year.