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FootballFerdinand Omanyala Easily Storms to Victory to Qualify for Athletics Kenya Trials Finals
- Ferdinand Omanyala made light work of the national trials at the Nyayo National Stadium
- The fastest man in Africa won his semi-final heat to qualify for the final heat on Saturday
- The trials will be used to select the Kenyan squad for the World Athletics Championships
Ferdinand Omanyala easily won the second semi-final of the Athletics Kenya trials at the Nyayo National Stadium on Friday afternoon.
The national champion used a time of 10.08 seconds to qualify for Saturday's final as the race to qualify for the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, heats up.
Omanyala obliterated his competitors, with Wiseman Were coming in second with a time of 10.51 seconds and Steven Onyango clocking 10.55 seconds to finish third.
The Commonwealth Champion will be seeking to run a sub-10 race on Saturday, with the set qualifying time of the men's 100 metres standing at 10.00 seconds as captured by the Olympics.
The 27-year-old has had a stacked season so far as he aims to become the first Kenyan to medal at the Athletics Championships. He currently leads the Diamond League standings after finishing third in Rabat before recording back-to-back second-place finishes in Florence and Paris.
In the first event of the day, Nicolas Kimeli won the 10,000-metre race, with Daniel Ebebnyo coming in second to also book a tickets to Budapest. The duo will be out to stop the Ugandan dominance of Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo in August.
The trials is a two-day event before Athletics Kenya unveils its squad for the Championships on Saturday evening.
Omanyala leads Diamond League standings
Sports Brief previously reported on Omanyala being on course to qualify for the Diamond League finals, with the Commonwealth champion leading the standings after five legs.
He raced in his second-ever Diamond League race against an elite field in Rabat on May 28. He then followed it up with back-to-back races in Florence, Italy and in Paris, France.
Omanyala - Africa's fastest man - took podium places in all three races. He came in third in Morocco before claiming two consecutive second-place finishes in Italy and France.