Home favourite Ferdinand Omanyala confirmed his status as the fastest man in Africa, and right now the world, when won the 100 metres sat the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in 9.85sec – the fastest time of the season so far.
The 26-year-old Omanyala, recently seen in South Africa against our own Akani Simbini, powered home ahead of the United States’ Olympic silver medallist Fred Kerley, who clocked 9.92.
It was an athletics meeting witnessed by Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta and a crowd that showed the sport is well and truly alive.
South African athletes also played their part in the successful meeting.
Miranda Coetzee won the women’s 400m and Prudence Sekgodiso claimed victory in the women’s 800m.
Coetzee finished with a time of 51.50, while Sekgodiso beat world champion Halimah Nakaayi in 1:58.41. Both were personal bests.
Omanyala – who was given a 14-month doping suspension in 2017 – thus maintained his high level of performance in this meeting, having clocked 9.77 in finishing second last year behind Trayvon Bromell of the US, who ran 9.76 – the two fastest times of 2021.
The main part of the fourth of this season’s World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meetings was book-ended by outstanding 100m performances following the superb clocking of 10.67, again fastest this year, achieved by Jamaica’s 35-year-old double Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, whose sea-level 10.60 last year put her third on the all-time list.
“The atmosphere was fantastic,” Fraser-Pryce told the trackside interviewer. “When I heard my name and the reaction of the fans in the stadium I just wanted to execute a very good race. I’m very excited and I hope to come back again.”
The Ministry of Sport had waived admission fees for the meeting, which had to take place without spectators last year, and the gesture proved well-appreciated as spectators were treated to a string of world-class performances.