Kenya President Congratulates Sprinter Omanyala

Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta today hailed elite athlete and Africa 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala for winning ASA Athletics Grand Prix 4 race.

Omanyala clocked a season’s best time of 9.98 seconds to outsprint South Africa’s two-time Olympic finalist Akani Simbine in the 100m final in Germiston, South Africa.

The 26-year-old beat Simbine (10.11) pretty comfortably in the end, with Bradley Nkoana finishing third in 10.32.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta has congratulated emerging Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala following the athlete’s pulsating win of the 100m race at the ASA Athletics Grandprix 4 in South Africa on Wednesday.” said State House Kenya in a tweet.

This was second meeting between Omanyala and Simbine, the latter who is also the Commonwealth Games 100m champion. They first met on September 3 last year at the Brussels leg of the Diamond League where Omanyala finished fourth in 10:02 seconds with Simbine coming in sixth in 10.18.

Omanyala shattered Simbine’s Africa 100m record when he finished second in 9.77 seconds during the Absa Kip Keino Classic last year, a race won by American Trayvon Bromell in 9.76.

Simbine’s previous Africa record stood at 9.84 seconds set when he won the Commonwealth Games title in Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018 after bagging the Africa title in Asaba, Nigeria, the same year.