• ATHLETICS

• Frank Rotich 2 hrs ago

Africa’s fastest man Omanyala basks in glory of Diamond League win in Xiamen with another sub 10

Kenya’s sprint star Ferdinand Omanyala delivered another world-class performance after winning the men’s 100m at the Xiamen Diamond League on Saturday.

Africa’s fastest man clocked an impressive 9.94 seconds to beat a strong field that included South Africa’s Gift Leotlela, American sprinters Trayvon Bromell and Kenny Bednarek, as well as Botswana’s Olympic star Letsile Tebogo.

Leotlela finished second in exactly 10.00 seconds while Bromell came third in 10.03. Bednarek narrowly missed the podium after also clocking 10.03 seconds. South Africa’s Akani Simbine came fifth in 10.04 as former world champion Christian Coleman and Tebogo settled for seventh and eighth places respectively.

The victory continues Omanyala’s brilliant 2026 season, where he has now recorded five consecutive sub-10 second performances. The Commonwealth champion has shown impressive consistency since opening his outdoor campaign earlier this year.

Omanyala began his season with indoor competitions before switching focus to outdoor events, where he quickly found top form. He first broke the 10-second barrier this season at the Addis Ababa Grand Prix after running 9.98 seconds before improving to 9.96 at the Kip Keino Classic and 9.95 at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix.

The Kenyan sprint king also impressed at the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai, where he finished second behind Leotlela after clocking 9.98 seconds.

Despite Kenya’s men’s 4x100m relay team missing qualification for the 2027 World Championships, Omanyala was part of the squad that set a new national record of 38.27 seconds at the World Athletics Relays.

The latest victory in Xiamen now strengthens Omanyala’s preparations as he builds towards next year’s World Championships in Beijing, with the Kenyan looking sharper and faster in every race this season.