Omanyala breaks 30-year 150m African Record in Atlanta

African record holder in 100m Ferdinand Omanyala made his debut in the 150m at the inaugural Adidas Atlanta City Games held at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park on Saturday 6 May night.

The Commonwealth Games 100m champion clocked 14.89 seconds to set an African record in the less competed distance, finishing in third place behind three-time World Champion Noah Lyles and Erriyon Knighton.

Omanyala had a spectacular start to the race and was ahead of the pack as they hit 100m but the experienced 200m had more in their tanks, piping the Kenyan in the last metres of the race as Lyles clocked 14.56 seconds ahead of Knighton’s personal best time of 14.85 seconds.

“The mission was to come here and run fast. I got off the blocks well and it was a good race. I am glad to have broken the African record. Thank you to everyone who came out to show their support," Omanyala told the organisers.

This is the first event the Kenyan has lost outdoors this season, but a massive achievement nonetheless as he had elected to move up the distance form his traditional 100m and race against a deep field that included two world medalists, a title he will be chasing in Budapest later this year.

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Before Atlanta, Omanyala had gotten his outdoor season with a world-leading time of 9.81 at the second Athletics Kenya weekend meet had it not been adjudged to have had a faulty wind reading.

From then on, he struggled to dip under ten seconds in his two races in South Africa where he posted 10.12 and 10.15 in the first and second edition of the ASA Grand Prix respectively.

Up against a star-studded field at the Botswana Continental Gold Tour meeting held in Gaborone on Saturday 29 April, he dipped below ten seconds to win the 100m in a world lead time of 9.78s that was initially scrapped for what was thought as a lane infringement but later the decision was overturned and the result stands.

The African record holder now returns home for the highly-anticipated Kip Keino Classic set for 13 May with the continental record that he holds at 9.77 seconds in sight.