Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala says his dream of becoming the first Kenyan to win 100m medal at the World Championships has not faded after reaching the final in Budapest.
Omanyala, who has had a fine season, was tipped to win a medal, having entered the race ranked second fastest this season with a time of 9.84 seconds, but he missed out, saying his body could not pick as fast as it was in the Heats.
“I am glad I made it to the final, but today my body was just different I don’t know what happened, because I wasn’t running like I did yesterday during the heats, I knew today will be easy, I don’t know what happened, but we will go back to the drawing board and see what happened,” Omanyala told Capital Sport in Budapest after the final.
Asked whether the tense moments of waiting to see if he had made it to the final as one of the two fastest losers, affected his mental strength, Omanyala said; “It was a tough moment for me, because of anxiety asking myself so many questions, but we thank God we made it to the finals.”
He clocked 10.07 seconds to finish a disappointing 7th in a race that was won by 200m specialist American Noah Lyles in a World Lead time of 9.83 seconds, and is aiming to defend his 200m gold, Botswana’s youngster Letsile Tebogo scooped silver in a National Record of 9.88 seconds to write history as the first African to medal in the Championships.
Briton Zharnel Hughes, who came to the race a World Leader settled for bronze in 9.88 seconds.
“It was very hard for me, we learn and move on; we can’t reverse time, it has gone it is gone. It was a good season and we thank God for that, we have finished the final without injury so we appreciate,” Omanyala, who won his first Diamond League this season, underscored.
-What next for Omanyala?
Omanyala will take a one-month break before deciding what next after missing out on the entry of the Xiamen Diamond League in China slated for September 2.
“We have not planned anything because we couldn’t make it to enter the China Diamond League, we are just waiting to see what happens in the next one month. My dream of getting a world medal has not died, it continues. I tell Kenyans thank you for the support they shown me all through, so I want to tell them not to be disappointed because I know most of them will do, but everything happens for a reason,” Omanyala said.
It was an improvement for Omanyala after reaching the semifinals last year in Oregon.
