Omanyala eyes fast time in 200m at AK meet
Ferdinand Omanyala competes in 400m during the 2nd Athletics Kenya Meeting at Ulinzi Sports Complex on January 5, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Omanyala clocked a personal best of 49.06 to finish fifth in one of the heats in his first race since finishing third on his debut at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League in Eugene, USA on September 16, last year.
- “We are in that crucial phase of our build-up and the 400m was meant to test our endurance abilities," said Omanyala’s coach Geoffrey Kimani.
From the uncharted waters in 400 metres, Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala will scale to the 200m in the third Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting on Friday and Saturday at the Nyayo National Stadium.
It will be Omanyala’s first 200m race in almost one year after clocking 21.00 seconds to win the second Athletics Kenya Weekend Meeting at the same venue.
Omanyala, the Commonwealth Games and Africa 100m champion, competed in his first one-lap race after many years during the second Athletics Kenya Weekend Meeting on January 5 at Ulinzi Sports Complex.
Omanyala clocked a personal best of 49.06 to finish fifth in one of the heats in his first race since finishing third on his debut at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League in Eugene, USA on September 16, last year.
“We are in that crucial phase of our build-up and the 400m was meant to test our endurance abilities," said Omanyala’s coach Geoffrey Kimani.
“We looked more into how he was going to handle the last 100m of the 400m with the pace that we chose.”
Kimani noted that his athlete achieved the goals because he never fell apart in terms of technique.
“His leg turnover was good to the line hence a great indicator that we are on course for that phase of training,” explained Kimani.
Kimani revealed that Omanyala, who is the Africa 100m record holder, has shown great improvement in times throughout his speed endurance sessions.
“The 200m will bring out all these qualities as it’s a much longer race that requires supreme speed and strength abilities and endurance," said Kimani, adding that all is given to preparing his athlete for his indoor 60m races next.
Omanyala, who holds the 100m Africa record of 9.77sec, has a personal best of 20.33 in 200m, and 6.54sec in 60m (indoor).
Omanyala, who celebrated his 28th birthday on January 2, is expected to fly out on January 30 to France where he will start his title defence of the Indoor Meeting Elite de Miramas on February 2 in Miramas, France.
He will also seek to defend his Meeting de Paris title on February 11 in the French capital before representing Kenya at the World Athletics Indoor Championships from March 1-3 at the Commonwealth Arena in Glasgow, Scotland.
Omanyala will then fly back to Nairobi to defend his Kip Keino Classic 100m title on April 20 at the Nyayo National Stadium.
Omanyala’s main target this year ahead of the Paris Olympics is the 100m and 200m.
"We shall be doing fewer and more intense races this year unlike the previous seasons," said Omanyala, who made history as the first Kenyan to compete in the 100m at the Diamond League in Monaco last year.
Meanwhile, the 2019 world 800 metres champion Halimah Nakaayi will lead a legion of Uganda athletes at the third Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting.
It will be Nakaayi’s first race of the season since the Prefontaine Classic last year where she finished fifth in 800m.
Nakaayi, 29, who has been training in Ngong, is yet to win another major title since her 800m victory at the 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships.
Nakaayi's rival, the reigning world and Commonwealth Games 800m champion, Mary Moraa, will contest in the 400m during the third leg.
