Kenya’s sprint superstar Ferdinard Omanyala failed to live his dream of becoming the first African to win a gold medal in the 100m race at the World Athletics Championship after he finished seventh during the final in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Kenya won their first medal through the men’s 10,000m race after Daniel Ebenyo Simiu grabbed silver in a time of 27.52.60 seconds. Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei clocked 27.51.42 seconds to win gold, while Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega came third to win bronze with a time of 27.52.72. Another Kenyan athlete Nicholas Kipkorir finished eighth after clocking 28.03.38 seconds.
Back to Omanyala’s race, it was American Noah Lyles, who won the gold medal after sprinting to the finish line with a time of 9.83, Letsile Tebogo came second with 9.88, Zharnel Hughes third with 9.88, Oblique Seville came fourth also with a time of 9.88, Christian Coleman fifth with 9.92, Hakim Sani Brown came sixth with 10.04 while Omanyala settled for the seventh position with a time of 10.07.
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The Commonwealth Games champion made it to the first-ever final as the fastest loser after finishing third in his semi-final heat. His time of 10.01 seconds was the second fastest of the non-automatic qualifiers, and he managed to squeeze into the final while defending champion Fred Kerley crashed out.
It was Lyles, who won Omanyala’s heat after he stormed to a brilliant 9.87, his second fastest time ever, while Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sami Brown came second with a sub-10 finish time of 9.97 and then Omanyala third with 10.01.
For Kerley, who ahead of the championship was tipped as the biggest threat for the Kenyan sprinter, he finished third in his heat and any hopes of him bagging one of the next two fastest times were shattered as Ryiem Forde of Jamaica, who clocked 9.95, and Omanyala, who was just one-hundredth of a second faster than the American, progressing to the final.