Record breaking start for Omanyala in Indoor tour
"6.52🔥, lifetime best and a national record. Daniel 2.23." was all Ferdinand Omanyala posted on his social media pages after getting his 2024 international season in style.
Africa’s fastest man, Omanyala, lined up for the Elite Indoor Track Miramas Meeting in France, a race that has opened his last two seasons before 2024 and his performance was outstanding.
Omanyala, having timed 6.62 in Heat 1, produced a fine run in the final, shattering his personal best in a winning time of 6.52, one that outdid his previous and national record time by 0.2 seconds.
His previous record of 6.54 seconds was set in France last year at the Meeting Lievin Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais.
The Kenyan did not just break his own national record for the new PB but also broke the course record, previously swt at 6.57 seconds, while recording the third fastest time in the world so far.
Emmanuel Esseme of Cameroon came in second clocking 6.61, with Ivorian Arthur Cisse finishing in third place in a time of 6.62.
Other Kenyans in the 60m event - Mark Otieno and Tyson Juma - failed to make it into the finals after finishing fifth in their respective heats timing 6.85 and 6.78 respectively.
The 28-year-old next competes at the Meeting Indoor de Paris on 11 February, before closing out his indoor calendar with the World Indoor Games in Glasgow, Scotland on 1-3 March.