Ferdinand Omanyala reveals new strategy ahead of Paris Olympics

ATHLETICS Ferdinand Omanyala reveals new strategy ahead of Paris Olympics

Abigael Wafula 19:37 - 16.03.2024

African 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala has disclosed how he is perceiving this season differently and taking it as 'walking in the dark'.

The reigning Commonwealth Games 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala has opened up on the approach he is taking this season as he eyes the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Omanyala, speaking in the first episode of the “Road to Paris” series, explained that he will take the season as walking in the dark and having faith that his steps would lead him to the light.

Africa’s fastest man explained that he is also enjoying training under his new coach, Geoffrey Kimani, and he even looks forward to training unlike when he used to work with his previous coach. He also revealed that this season, they want to run fewer races and invest more time in training.

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“For me, this season I’m going to treat it like walking in the dark because when you’re walking in the dark, you don’t know where you’re stepping next.

“However, as you make those steps, you hope that they will lead you to the light. So, I’m not going to predict anything. I just want to handle each day as it comes and make sure that I get everything right.

“You know when you make today better, tomorrow will be best. It’s been a great season since I’ve been working with a new coach and we’ve been doing so much good stuff.

“Before I could go to races just to make sure that I don’t get the training but this year, we are going in with a different mentality. We want to do fewer races and more training and no predictions,” Omanyala said.

The 28-year-old noted that this year’s World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland were very different since he was able to make it to the final and even finish fourth. During the previous edition of the event, he was knocked out in the semifinal of the event.

Omanyala crossed the finish line in 6.56 in the 60m race as world record holder Christian Coleman won the race. Triple World champion Noah Lyles and Jamaican wunderkind Ackeem Blake completed the podium.

“The World Indoors was good and the three fastest guys ahead of me were better, they had better times but you know, what I do is take positives out of it. I got to the final and finished fourth in the world and the last time I never got to the final, I got to the semis.

“That was a very great improvement for me and that’s the positive thing I took out of the indoor season to the outdoor season.

“Every time I go on those tracks, I am carrying the legacy that I want to leave behind and for me, it’s about just changing the notion that anything is possible, that you can achieve anything you want and it doesn’t matter the part of the world you are coming from,” he said.