Speedster Omanyala eyes uncharted territory

Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala is set to sail into uncharted waters at the third leg of the Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting starting Friday at the Ulinzi Sports Complex, Lang’ata, Nairobi.

Initially, Omanyala had indicated that he might miss racing in local meetings, only opting for Kip Keino Classic, the Athletics Kenya National Championships and the National Trials for Paris Olympic Games.

However, the Commonwealth Games and Africa 100metres champion will now take the blocks in 400m at the Ulinzi Sports Complex meet that gets underway at 8.20am.

The 400m heats that go down from 10.25am will also feature the national 400m champion Zablon Ekwam, former national 400m champion Boniface Mweresa and the national 400m/ 110m hurdles champion Wiseman Were among others.

“This is my first 400m race and it looks pretty exciting. We are not going for time but to see how we shall run over the distance,” said Omanyala, who is preparing to compete in 200m and 100m races this season.

Omanyala’s move to venture into the 400m race is part of his endurance as he explores ways of sustaining his top end speed in sprints.

“While we shall be heading to the indoor season next month, our bigger picture is the 100m and 200m events,” said Omanyala’s coach Geoffrey Kimani. 

“We have had interesting but fulfilling sessions that have been tailored to give him range and quality rounds all-round.”

Kimani said that Omanyala will be not be under pressure for time in the one-lap race, this being his first race over the distance.

“He is much lighter and we want to see how his body reacts. The good thing is that he has not lost anything in his gym session since he is giving similar numbers, and instead of bulging, he is getting stronger,” said Kimani.

Omanyala, who celebrated his 28th birthday on January 2, is now weighing 86 kilograms down from 89.9kg.

Omanyala will fly out on January 30 to France where he will start his indoor season. He will start with the title defence of the Indoor Meeting Elite de Miramas on February 2 in Miramas, France.

Africa’s 100m record holder will also seek to defend his Meeting de Paris title on February 11 in the French capital before fielding at the World Athletics Indoor Championships on March 1-3 at the Commonwealth Arena in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Last year, Omanyala clocked 6.65 seconds to prevail in the semi-finals of the 60m before equalling the national record in the final with a time of 6.63 at the Miramas indoor race.

Omanyala clocked 6.56 to win the Paris Indoor meet, a performance that came four days after he had bettered his national record to 6.55 when winning the Mondeville Meeting in France.

Athletics Kenya director Paul Mutwii noted that no registration will be done on the competition day since the process closed yesterday with athletes collecting their bib numbers.

"We had registered close to 800 athletes by 2pm and we expected the numbers to reach 1,000 by the close of entries at 6pm. This is a good turnout,"said Mutwii.