Ferdinand Omanyala: Africa Champion Sets New Record, Wins Meeting Indoor De Paris

• Ferdinand Omanyala has yet again lowered his national record in the 60m race
• Omanyala ran a decent 6.51-second race in the Paris meet on February 11
• He is seemingly in top shape ahead of next month's World Indoor Championships

Ferdinand Omanyala's perfect start to his 2024 season continued as he stormed to victory at the Paris Indoor Tour on Sunday, February 11.

Omanyala broke his national record again, running 6.51 seconds to finish ahead of Emmanuel Matadi and win the 60m race. Matadi used 6.57 seconds to finish in second place, while Azu Jeremiah was third with 6.59 seconds.

Omanyala's 2024 season

This was Omanyala's second race of his indoor season after winning the meeting in Miramas last weekend. He clocked a time of 6.52 seconds, a national record, to beat Ivory Coast's Arthur Cisse in the final.

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He has now lowered that national record by 0.01 seconds. He is still yet to beat the African record in the discipline which is held by Leonard Myles-Mills. The Ghanaian used 6.45 seconds in 1999.

The 6.51 seconds clocked by Omanyala was also a meet record.

"We had targets. We are looking forward to the Indoor championships and I am happy to have set new records here," Omanyala said after the race.

The fastest man in Africa will rest before heading to Glasgow, Scotland, for the World Indoor Championships slated for March 1 to 3.

Omanyala's 2024 plans

Sports Brief previously caught up with the 28-year-old during a media day at the Nyayo National Stadium. He exuded confidence in his training plans, opening up on his 2024 plans.

"I have been training for the last three months. It has been tough, but we try to be consistent because that's the hard part of preparation. Once the season starts, it becomes hard to train cause we will be travelling to different countries for competitions."

He declined to address the upcoming Olympics in pairs, choosing to take one race at a time. In the rescheduled games of Tokyo 2020, he became the first Kenyan to run at the semi-finals of the 100m at the Olympic games.