Omanyala Explains Reason Behind World Championship Disappointment

Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala was hoping to become the first man from the continent to medal at a World Championship event when he lined up in the 2023 edition ongoing in Budapest, Hungary. 

Having clocked the second fastest time this year and fresh from winning his first Diamond League race following his triumph in Monaco, all the stars aligned towards Omanyala's dream possibly coming true. 

And after successfully navigating the qualifying rounds on his way to becoming the first Kenyan man to make it to a 100m final in a World Championship event, the 27-year-old could not have been any closer. 

However, his dream was never to be after a disappointing seventh place finish in the race won by Noah Lyles who clocked 9.83s ahead of Botswana Talent Letsile Tebogo and Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes. 

After the race, the reigning Commonwealth champion explained what went wrong for him as he accepted the outcome, promising to do better going forward. 

This is after he qualified for the final as a non-automatic qualifier. 

“I really cannot tell what happened because my body was not firing from the semifinals like it did during the heats. We will just have to go back and see what happened, where to correct and what to do best next time. 

I know many (Kenyans) are disappointed with the results but there is no way we are going back in time. We have to accept what happened and see how to get better next time,” the sprint revolutionary said. 

In Omanyala's stead, Tebogo went on to achieve the historic feat of becoming the first man from Africa to medal in a World Championship event.

Silver was a huge marker for Tebogo, who has won two consecutive world U20 titles and has now served notice that he is part of the big league.