Ferdinand Omanyala Warns Noah Lyles and Co Ahead of Paris Showdown: 'We'll Go Back to That Conversation'

Ferdinand Omanyala has fired a warning to his rivals ahead of the Paris Diamond League, insisting his disappointing performance in Rome was not a true reflection of his abilities and vowing to bounce back against the world's best sprinters.

The African 100m record holder endured a frustrating outing at the Rome Diamond League, where he finished eighth in a stacked men's 100m field after clocking 10.11 seconds.

American sprint star Noah Lyles stormed to victory in 9.88 seconds, while Cameroon's Emmanuel Eseme finished second in a national record 9.94 seconds. Botswana's Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo completed the podium with a time of 9.95 seconds.

Despite being left behind by his rivals, Ferdinand Omanyala believes a poor start was the key reason behind his result rather than a lack of speed or fitness.

The Kenyan explained that a stumble out of the blocks disrupted his race plan and left him playing catch-up in one of the most competitive sprint fields of the season.

“Rome was… I can’t say tough because I was prepared. I just had a bit of an issue with my stumble at the start, and in such an elite field, that affected everything,” Omanyala told Citizen Digital. “My drive phase was affected, everything was affected in that race.”

In a race featuring some of the fastest men on the planet, any mistake can prove costly, and Omanyala paid the price for a slow start.

Although the result was disappointing, the Kenyan sprint star believes the statistics from Rome tell a different story.

According to Omanyala, his top-end speed ranked among the best in the field, a sign that he remains capable of challenging the likes of Noah Lyles, Letsile Tebogo and Emmanuel Eseme when everything comes together.

“If you look closely at the statistics, only three people hit the top-end speed that I got to. So that is a positive I got from that,” he added.

The performance has strengthened his belief that he can quickly return to winning ways with cleaner execution in upcoming races.

With Paris expected to feature many of the same sprint stars, Omanyala is already looking forward to settling the score.

“I’m glad Paris is having the same sprinters. We’ll go back to that conversation again,” he said.

Meanwhile, following Rome, Ferdinand Omanyala had been scheduled to compete at the Dromia International Sprint and Relays Meeting in Greece this weekend.

However, after discussions with his management team, the decision was made to withdraw from the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver event to focus on the bigger races ahead.

“We cancelled the race in Greece, so we are picking up next week from Hengelo, then Paris Diamond League, then Monaco Diamond League, and then Commonwealth,” said Omanyala.

His next race will now be at the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands, before attention turns to the Paris Diamond League on June 28.