Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala leads Team Kenya to the World Athletics Relays that start tonight in the North American nation of Bahamas.
Omanyala will be part of Kenya men’s 4x100 metres team at the championship that will be held over the next two days at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau, the capital city of the Atlantic Ocean island nation.
While it’s the first time Kenya is fielding a team in men’s 4x100m at the international biennial track and field championship, hopes are high that the team will plough through to the final and qualify automatically for the Paris Olympics Games.
The top 14 teams in each event at the World Athletics Relays will automatically qualify for places at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The remaining two Olympic places in each discipline will be awarded based on world ranking during the qualification period (between December 31, 2022, to June 30, 2024).
Olympic places are up for grabs on both days of action in the Bahamas. On the first day, the top two teams in each heat will advance to the finals which are planned for day two, while also securing their qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
In the finals on day two, teams will compete for prize money and obtain Olympic lane seeding positions.
“When I started as an athlete, it was my dream to have a 4x100m at the Olympics and that journey started when we won the African title in Mauritius in 2022,” said Omanyala, the Commonwealth Games and Africa 100m champion.
“We also qualified for the 2022 Commonwealth Games to reach the final even though we didn’t finish after making mistakes in baton handling,” Omanyala said, adding that they can’t afford to repeat the mistake this year.
“We had not jelled as a team then but the bond has strengthened now as we spend more days in camp. I am happy that everyone dropped their respective programme to embrace one plan for the team,” said Omanyala explaining that everyone has improved his time.
Omanyala said his teammates are not focusing on who is in their opponents’ teams but on good execution that will put them in the final.
Mark Otieno, who is also in the 4x100m team, said: “We have speed, and our baton exchange technique has been smooth. We have been brothers in training. We have done all the drills, making sure we get it right.”
“God willing, we will make history in the Bahamas.”
Besides Omanyala and Otieno, coach Steven Mwaniki will have Hesbon Ochieng, Mike Mokamba and Meshack Babu to pick from.
Kenya will face sprints superpower USA who struck gold in the 4x100m at the World Championships in Budapest last year.
World 100m and 200m champion Noah Lyles, who anchored the USA to relay victory ahead of Italy and Jamaica in the Hungarian capital last year, will once again lead his team that has Olympic 200m silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, who is fresh from winning the 100m at Kip Keino Classic.
All four men who carried Canada to 4x100m victory at the 2022 World Aetics Championships – including Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse – will also be in action. The Olympic silver medallists will be keen to make amends after missing out on the World Championships final last year.
Jamaica, who collected bronze in Budapest, have world indoor bronze medallist Ackeem Blake, world finalist Ryiem Forde and World University Games champion Kadrian Goldson.
Kenya failed to reach the final of the mixed relay in the 2021 edition held in Moscow after the team was disqualified. This year, the team looks all set to make the final, with Zablon Ekwam, Wiseman Were, Mercy Chebet and Maireen Thomas in the mix.
USA won the world title in Budapest, beating Great Britain and the Czech Republic but will face Dominican Republic, winners of the world title in 2022 and Netherlands.
USA will be bolstered by the presence of world 400m champion Marileidy Paulino, who has already notched up Diamond League victories in Xiamen and Suzhou this year. Alexander Ogando, who was also part of the triumphant 2022 squad, is also on the team for Nassau.
Kenya is yet to win medals in 4x400m relay since the historic victory by Charles Asati, Munyoro Nyamau, Robert Ouko, and Julius Sang at the 1972 Munich Summer Games.
Kenyan team of Daniel Rudisha, Hezekiah Nyamau, Naftali Bon, and Charles Asati had claimed silver in 4x400m relay at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.
Kenya’s quartet of Boniface Mweresa, Vincent Mumo, Boniface Mucheru and Alphas Kishoyian was disqualified during the 2012 London Olympic Games. That was the last time Kenya had a relay team at the Olympics.
