Nairobi — African 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala clocked his first sub-10 performance in his second race of the season as he outsprinted homeboy Akani Simbine in the Athletics South Africa Grand Prix in Germiston on Wednesday night.
Omanyala clocked 9.98secs to win the race ahead of Olympic finalist Simbine who timed 10.11secs while Bradley Nkoana was third in 10.32.
This was the Kenyan sprinter’s second 100m race of the outdoor season, having opened his campaign last weekend in South Africa where he also won
“My main aim was to run under 10 and I was not competing against him (Simbine); I was running against the finish line. I’ve achieved what I came to achieve in South Africa. It was a good start to the season and when you run these times at this point in the season then you’re expecting a good season going forward,” an excited Omanyala said after the race.
He was starting off his outdoor season down south as he prepares for the Diamond League and the bigger picture being the World Championships and Commonwealth Games which will be held in Oregon and Birmingham respectively.
The Kenyan 27-year old started his season indoors, having made his World Indoor Championships debut in Serbia last month running the 60m dash.
Meanwhile in other races in South Africa last night, 17-year old Viwe Jingqi provided a huge upset, winning the women’s 200m race with a time of 23.10.
Clarence Munyai (20.33) dominated the field in the men’s 200m, leaving Botswana veteran Isaac Makwala in the dust, who finished fourth (20.89).