African sports news. Ferdinand Omanyala wins Commonwealth Games. Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala is the new Commonwealth Games 100m champion.
Omanyala managed to dethrone champion and rival Akani Simbine from South Africa after he clocked 10.02 second in the finals of the 100m at the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Wednesday night.
Simbine finished second after running in 10.13 seconds to take silver as Sri Lankan Yupun Abeykoon took bronze in 10.14 seconds.
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Omanayala becomes the second Kenyan to take the title after Seraphino Antao in 1962, when the event was still run over 100 yards.
The kenyan world athletics champion had secured a last minute chance to compete at the 2022 World Athletic championship in Oregon, US just after dealing with visa issues.
He had hoped to beat Usain Bolt’s speed in the 100m hopefully hitting a 9.6 second time but arrived just two hours to his performance and failed to do so due to fatigue.
Omanyala had a delay in securing his visa, a plight very familiar to many Kenyans, and was nearly missing out on the opportunity to compete.