Africa's fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala returned where it all started for him 10 years ago, a murram running track, to launch his season yesterday with the World Athletics Championship in Tokyo in September his ultimate goal.
Omanyala was sublime in his execution to reach the men’s 100 metres final during the second leg of the Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting at Thika County Stadium.
The day also belonged to former World under-20 3,000m champion Teresia Gateri, who reigned supreme in women's 1,500m and declared her intentions for the metric mile race ahead of the World Athletics Championships.
Omanyala, the Commonwealth Games 100m champion, clocked 10.07 seconds in the heats and 10.02 in the semi-finals to officially kick off his season.
The race flooded Omanyala's memory of where his journey started a decade ago on a similar murram track .
"I am here not to win but to give support to the championships and inspire upcoming sprinters. I came here to tell athletes that we are together as I celebrate 10 years, " said Omanyala.
"It feels nostalgic running on the murram track for the first time in a decade since it's on such a track and in February where it all started for me. We all start somewhere and here we are. I just wanted to connect with my past and see how it feels," said
Omanyala, who started his athletics career at Mumias Sports Complex where he competed in 100m and 200m.
Having trained for four months, Omanyala said he was ready to take on the best in the world as he urged his fans to be patient for his next race.
Even though Omanyala missed the World Athletics Indoor Tour for the first time in three years his options are open for the upcoming World Indoor Championships scheduled for March 21 to 23 in Nanjing, China.
"I only opted out of the world indoor tour but not the world indoor championships. I am still weighing my options since the world championships are quite far," said Omanyala.
The World Athletics Championships are due for September 13 to 21 in Tokyo, Japan.
The men’s 100m had 23 heats while women's 13 heats.
Gateri, who finished fifth in the 1,500m and seventh in 5,000m at the African Championships last year, clocked 4:24.3 to post the fastest time in the two metric mile final.
Vivian Chebet won the other 1,500m final in 4:24.5.
"I want to focus on the 1,500m since I feel I have the strength for the event and not the 5,000m that was my previous target. I don't have the endurance for the distance races," said the Japan based Gateri.
Gateri said that she is now embarking on chasing the metric mile qualifying time of 4:01.50 for the World Championships.
"Right now, I don't have the energy for setting the 14 minutes in 5,000m but I am capable in 1,500m," said Gateri.
