Ferdinand Omanyala Beats Legendary Justin Gatlin to Break African Record in 100m

• Omanyala’s time of 9.77 seconds at Kipchoge Keino world continental tour Men's 100M in Kasarani is the second-fastest in the world this year
• The ageless Justin Gatlin, who won gold at the 2004 Olympics, came in third in the race
• His latest feat means Omanyala now ranks fifth in the all-time list of sprinters

Ferdinand Omanyala has broken the Kenyan sprint record for the fifth time as he emerged second to American Travyon Brommel in the 100m of the Kip Keino classic games on Saturday, September 18.

Omanyala came up against a star-studded group of sprint kings in the Absa Kip Keino Classic games which included 2004 Olympic champion Justin Gatlin and another American speed demon Travyon Brommel.

The Kenyan sprinter has been in solid form since the Tokyo Games and has broken numerous Kenyan records in the build-up to the race in home soil, and expectations were extremely high for the 28-year old to put up a good show.

Once the race was underway, Omanyala made a superb start, as he got the better of majority of his competitors within the first 50 metres.

Towards the end of the race, he only had Brommel to beat but unfortunately ran out of track as Brommel narrowly beat him by mere milliseconds.

It was still an extremely impressive race for Omanyala, who clocked 9.77s, compared to Brommel’s 9.76.

Another day, another record for Omanyala

At this point, there is no denying Omanyala is destined from greatness as he has ran some impressive times in recent months.

But perhaps this particular race at the Kasarani stadium will bear the most significance, and for several reasons as well.

For one thing, it was a race that Omanyala took on in the midst of some legends of the tracks.

And not only did he thoroughly impress on home soil while being overlooked by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Sports CS Amina Mohammed, he also shattered a significant record.

His time of 9.76 seconds means he is now officially the fastest human in Africa as he takes over from South African Akani Simbine.

Simbine’s record of 9,84 seconds, which he set over the 100 metre run at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Hungary, only lasted two months as Africa has found a new king in the form of Kenya’s Omanyala.