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Prisons had Africa’s fastest man in their grasp but a number of factors conspired against them only to see him join rivals Kenya Police a few years later.
Veteran sprints coach Stephen Mwaniki has revealed how Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala slipped out of Kenya Prisons’ hands before later joined the National Police Service.
Omanyala joined Police in December 2021 but he would have been representing Prisons had everything gone to plan a few years earlier.
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The 26-year-old represented Prisons in the formative years of his career while he was still a student at the University of Nairobi when he made the transition from rugby to athletics during the 2015-16 Athletics Kenya track season.
That was after meeting coach Duncan Ayiemba who introduced him to sprints before inviting him to join Prisons where he would also work with Mwaniki.
Omanyala was invited to compete in Kenya Prisons Championships where he shocked experienced sprinters to win in 10.75 seconds.
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“I was with Omanyala when he was still coming up. He used to train with my team at the Nairobi West Prison where we have a ground. He even ran for us during the National Championships,” Mwaniki told Pulse Sports.
“Omanyala is one of my athletes but now he’s gone to somebody else and he is doing very well and we wish him well in all competitions.
“We offered him a chance to join Prisons but at that time, his parents said they needed the boy to finish his education but now he is in Police again and that is okay.”
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After his impressive performance for Prisons, Omanyala’s fortunes turned for the worse as he would finish seventh at the National Championships in 10.67 with Mike Mokamba (10.35), followed by Mark Otieno (10.39) claiming first and second to be selected for the 2016 Africa Senior Athletics Championships in Durban, South Africa.
Omanyala would then be invited to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic trials held at the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret. The athletes had an Olympic qualifying time of 10.16 seconds to beat but while he failed to qualify after clocking 10.37, he beat Otieno to first place, announcing his arrival.
He would compete in his first 200m race in the trials for the 2017 World Relay Championships, which he won and made Team Kenyan team for the event.
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During the continental event held at the Moi International Sports Center in Kasarani, Omanyala beat a strong field to win the race in a world lead time of 9.84.
"I couldn't sleep the night after I qualified. I couldn't believe I would be on my first flight to the Bahamas at only 21," Omanyala told Nation at the time.
Kenya reached the final but finished seventh in 4x200m and after coming back, the budding sprinter run a personal best 10.24 seconds at the Eldoret AK meeting for Prisons.
But while training ahead of the National Championships, he suffered lower back pain and sought advise from a doctor who prescribed certain medications that turned out to contain banned substances, landing him in trouble.
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Africa’s fastest man did not disappoint in what was the final race of the World Athletics Continental Tour.
He would miss out on the 2017 World Championships and 2018 Commonwealth Games after being handed a 14-month ban. He was also sidelined for the 2019 African Games trials, a decision he challenged and won in court, after which he was allowed to compete, eventually finishing second.
It is perhaps during this period that Prisons lost their man. Omanyala missed the qualifying mark for the 2019 World Championships but made it to the Tokyo Olympics.
After the Olympics, he became the first Kenyan to run the 100m under 10 seconds in a new national record of 9.96 in the semi-finals and 9.86 in the final at Josko Lauf Meeting in Austria.
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He followed it up with a new African record on home soil when he ran 9.77 for second place, one second, behind American Trayvon Bromell at the Kip Keino Classic after which Police pounced.
Omanyala would qualify for the 2022 World Championships but a visa hitch threatened to lock him out before he made it to Eugene just hours before his race.
He was eliminated in the semi-final but made amends by winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal weeks later and has maintained the standards since.
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He clocked a wind assisted 9.87 to win the Botswana Golden Grand Prix in April before running a new African record 14.98 to finish third in the 150m at the Atlanta City Games this month and followed it up with victory at the Kip Keino Classic in a world lead 9.84 in Nairobi last weekend.
“We are happy as Kenyans because we have a role model. Now we will have more kids who want to be like Omanyala and that means we are going to stop the world. Very soon, we are going to have more Kenyans sprinting like Omanyala and even better than him,” added Mwaniki on Omanyala’s achievement.
Omanyala is now billed as one of the world’s top sprinters and he has been touted as a medal prospect at the 2023 World Championships.
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