Duncan Ayiemba, the coach who is credited with guiding Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala to stardom, is shocked that his athlete has replaced him without official communication.
Speaking to Nation Sport Tuesday, coach Ayiemba said that since September 17 when the athletics season ended, he has been waiting for Omanyala to reach out to him for the two to agree on an appropriate time to review the ended season, only to learn through social media that the athlete had got a new coach.
“He has been busy since then and was hoping that he would create time so that we can review the season. It is shocking to learn that someone else has taken charge,” Ayiemba said Tuesday.
Omanyala’s season ended with the final leg of the 2023 Diamond League, the Prefontaine Classic, held from September 16 to 17 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States of America, and the new coach in question is renowned strength and conditioning coach Geoffrey Kimani.
On Tuesday, Omanyala acknowledged that he had not informed Ayiemba of his impending change of coach and apologised, saying he will reach out to him for talks at a personal level.
Kimani Tuesday announced on X, formerly Twitter, that he has taken charge of Omanyala’s training regime for the 2024 Olympics season.
“I was waiting for my official kit sponsor Adidas to remit some of my bonuses before I could tell him (Ayiemba) and settle his dues but the unexpected happened,” Omanyala said Tuesday.
“The reasons are personal but I will meet Ayiemba soon for talks,” Omanyala, who has trained under coach Ayiemba since the 2015/2016 season, said.
Coach Duncan Ayiemba during an interview at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on March 13, 2023.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
Omanyala’s manager, South African Marcel Viljoen, appeared to approve the athlete’s decision to engage a new coach “if it is in pursuit of taking his game to the next level.”
Coach Ayiemba said he would not stand in Omanyala’s way if the athlete wanted to change coaches but the athlete should have communicated with him in the right manner.
“I have been with Omanyala for almost eight years and it could have been ideal if it was him communicating (to me) and not someone else on social media,” said Ayiemba.
“I wish him all the best because I know he is a good and hardworking athlete. We had the best season this year in which he clocked 12 sub-10 second times, including 9.85sec in Nairobi,” said Ayiemba.
While paying tribute to Ayiemba, Viljoen said he has helped Omanyala build good pre-season fitness, to establish a great strength regime, and to streamline his starts, acceleration as well as maintaining the top-end speed in races.
“Duncan (Ayiemba) has been fantastic for Ferdinand in the past few years,” Viljoen told Nation Sport on phone from South Africa Tuesday.
“However, we feel that the foundation that has been built would be well utilised by Kimani to take him to the next level and onto the Olympic Games in Paris.”
“We are looking forward to seeing what the effects will be in 2024, having worked closely with Ayiemba a bit before the Tokyo Olympics,” explained Viljoen.
Strength and Conditioning coach Geoffrey Kimani gives instructions at RFUEA grounds during a past event.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
Viljoen said Omanyala is still in the off-season and enjoying a lot of family time, community and charity projects before resuming training in November.
Kimani, who also paid glowing tribute to Ayiemba for producing a world-class athlete, said that there will be little to tweak in Omanyala to take his game to the next level.
Kimani said Omanyala isn’t a stranger to him because the two worked closely with Ayiemba before and during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“Omanyala is a smart and hardworking athlete and I want to give credit to Ayiemba for producing a world-class athlete. I simply can’t take that glory away from him,” said Kimani.
“There will be little to change in Omanyala, I can’t overhaul or change him but only try to work on his mobility and flexibility,” explained Kimani.
Kimani said he would come up with a good racing model that will help improve Omanyala’s upper body for ease of thoracic spine mobility.
“We want to see how he will get maximum strength without getting big muscles, especially on his upper body. It’s all about refining his starts, transition and high end speed,” Kimani said.
Kimani also said it’s Omanyala who reached out to him and requested him to take charge of his training regime.
Describing Omanyala as a smart and hardworking athlete, Kimani said he has met the athlete, reviewed his performance last season, and set goals for the 2024 Olympics season.
Omanyala, the Commonwealth Games and Africa 100 metres champion, will start the 2024 season at the World Indoor Tour in February before the World Athletics Indoor Championships due March 1 to 3 in Glasgow, Scotland, and the World Athletics Relay Championships scheduled for May 4 to 5 in Nassau, Bahamas.
Omanyala, who has had Ayiemba as his coach since the 2015/2016 season, joins several other top world sprinters in changing coaches ahead of the 2024 season.
The highlight of Omanyala’s performance with Ayiemba as coach was when he broke the Africa record, posting a new time of 9.77 seconds when he finished second during the 2021 Kip Keino Classic, losing the battle to American Trayvon Bromell who timed 9.76 for victory.
Omanyala then made his debut at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games that were held in 2021, making history as the first Kenyan sprinter in 100m to reach the semi-finals.
Omanyala, who is now the all-time ninth fastest man in 100m, went on to win the Africa 100m and 4x100m title as well as Commonwealth Games 100m title last year.
Under Ayiemba, Omanyala reached the semi-finals of the World Athletics Championships held in Oregon, United States last year, and finished seventh at this year’s World Athletics Championships held in Budapest, Hungary in August.
Before heading to Budapest, Omanyala became the first Kenyan to win a 100m race at the Diamond League, following his victory in Monaco on July 21.
Last month, the 2022 world 100m champion Fred Kerley of USA picked the 1992 Olympic 400m gold medalist Quincy Watts as his new coach replacing Grenada’s Alleyne Francique.
Olympic 100m gold medalist Marcell Jacobs also replaced Paolo Camossi his coach after working for many years with American Rana Reider.
