Nairobi — Kenyan sprint sensation Ferdinand Omanyala lost his first 100m race of the year after finishing second at the 24th Internationales Leichtathletik meeting at the Paul Greifzu Stadium in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on Wednesday night.
Omanyala clocked 10.14secs to come in second behind lanky Sri Lankan Mudiyanselage Yupun Abeykoon who clocked a new Personal best time of 10.04secs.
Abeykoon had a better finishing kick, recovering in the final 40m of the race to beat Omanyala with his long strides.
The Sri Lankan had come second to Omanyala in the Heats, where the Kenyan had clocked a slow time of 10.23secs to win after a slow start off the blocks. Even in the heats, Abeykoon had recovered in the final 40m of the race but Omanyala had long wrapped up his win.
Omanyala had traveled to Germany on the back of a successful race in Italy, where he won in a Meeting record time of 10.11secs.
The 26-year-old Kenyan now turns attention to next Tuesday’s Golden Spike Meeting in Ostrava, a World Athletics Continental Gold Label race where he will face off with his sprint icon Yohan Blake.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s Daniel Munguti won the men’s 1500m race, timing 3:37.87 after commanding the race from start to finish.