Ferdinand Omanyala, the fastest man in Africa, wants to demonstrate to young Kenyan sprinters how to excel.
The 26-year-old is traveling to the World Athletics Championships to popularize sprinting in a nation where long-distance runners rule.
Omanyala has two wristbands on his right arm. One of them is made of black and green beads and reads 9:85, the time he ran the 100 meters in for his best time of the season in May.
The other is a leather and metal bracelet with the inscription 9:77, the African record he achieved in September. With four Americans and three Jamaicans ahead of him, he became the ninth-fastest man in history.
As the third-fastest guy in the world this season behind Americans Fred Kerley and Trayvon Bromell, he will arrive in Eugene, Oregon, where the 100-meter heats begin on the first morning of the competition on July 15.
A first for Africans would be to reach the podium.
Frankie Fredericks of Namibia won silver at the Olympics in the 100-meter race twice in the 1990s, but his World Championship medals—one gold and three silvers—all covered more than 200 meters.
Omanyala stated that on July 16, he hopes to at least make it to the final.
“I’m targeting 9.6,” he told AFP in an interview during a training session at
the main stadium in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
“That will be my biggest achievement. And of course, I am going for the win.”
His opponents in Oregon should include 2019 world champion Christian Coleman, Olympic gold medalist Marcell Jacobs of Italy, and Bromell and Kerley.
“I am an athlete who runs well under pressure. So I am looking forward to getting better in Oregon because now everybody who is an athlete will be there,” said Omanyala.
Together with his coach Duncan Ayiemba, the young athlete has been figuring out ways to increase the popularity of sprinting in Kenya, a country known for its middle- and long-distance runners.
“Normally it’s long-distance in Kenya, so I want the 100 meters to be something big in Kenya this year,” said Ayiemba.
At the Olympics in Tokyo last year, Omanyala became the first Kenyan sprinter to advance past the quarterfinals.
Six years ago, the chemistry student began competing in athletics after playing
rugby sevens.
“When I started athletics, I aimed to make people know that Kenyans can sprint, that is
something that has changed,” he said.
“In a medium- and long-distance country, it’s a challenge coming up as a
sprinter,” he said.
“Even the national federation at some point did not believe there could be a sprinter in Kenya. You have to beat all these odds.”
He overcame a challenge when Athletics Kenya decided to waive a rule that barred any prohibited athletes from competing in international competitions, allowing him to represent Kenya at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya had given him a 14-month suspension in 2017 after he tested positive for a prohibited drug.
“It was a hard 14 months but life has to move on,” Omanyala said.
“I was just a year old in the sport. But I was still training during these 14
months, I don’t remember a day that I did not train. I still wanted to do this more and more. That made me stronger.”
Omanyala expressed his desire to serve as an inspiration for other young people in Kenya.
“I believe I opened the way for so many people coming behind me,” he said.
“One of the things that I wanted to do is to leave a legacy. I want to
leave an industry of sprint in Kenya.
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“I believe I will inspire so many kids, not only in Kenya but in Africa. I believe there is some kid, somewhere, who is looking up and saying ‘I want to be where Omanyala has been’.”
