Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala won the much-hyped 100m showdown against South Africa’s Akani Simbine in Germiston on Wednesday night, clocking 9.98sec.
The African record holder surged away from South Africa’s two-time Olympian and fourth-placed finisher from Tokyo 2020 in the second half of the race to stretch away at the line, with Simbine timing 10.11. Bradley Nkoana finished third in 10.32.
Last year Omanyala became the fastest man in Africa when he clocked 9.77 in Nairobi, which was 0.07sec quicker than Simbine’s previous Africa record.
“My main aim was to run under 10 (seconds) and I was not competing against him (Simbine); I was running against the finish line,” said Omanyala.
“I’ve achieved what I came to achieve in South Africa. (He also won in Potchefstroom a week earlier)It was a good start to the season and when you run these times at this point in the season then you’re expecting a good season going forward.”
Clarence Munyai (20.33) blitzed the field in the men’s 200m, while teenage talent Viwe Jingqi won the 200m women’s race in 23.10.
Carina Horn, who was banned for two years for doping, won her second 100m race of the Grand Prix series when she won in 11.43 seconds.
And 100m hurdler Marioné Fourie finally dipped under 13 seconds in the women’s 100m hurdles, clocking 12.93 to win by nearly a second.
At the same meeting, Simoné Kruger broke the Discus Women F38 African record. Kruger’s distance of 34.74m saw off competition from Mandilene Hoffmann (29.75m) and Yané van der Merwe (28.79m).