Omanyala dips below 10 seconds to win Botswana Golden Grand Prix in world lead time

Kenya’s sprint sensation Ferdinand Omanyala once again showed his class in a star-studded field at the Botswana Continental Gold Tour meeting held in Gaborone as he dipped below ten seconds to win the 100m race held on Saturday in a world lead time of 9.78s.

Stacked up against local teenage talent Letsile Tebogo, USA’s Olympic and world 200m medalist Kenny Bednarek, USA's treble NACAC medalist Kyree King and Canada’s world 4x100m champion Aaron Brown, the reigning Commonwealth champion and African record holder showed his prowess as he shattered the field to emerge victorious ahead of Tebogo who crossed the finish line in 9.91 with Bednarek taking third place in 10.02.

With eyes on Omanyala and the fast rising Tebogo who is the world U20 100m record holder, it is the youngster who got a better start off the blocks.

Omanyala however managed to close down Tebogo and cruised away to victory in the homestretch after appearing to have slightly committed a lane infringement when the two athletes had checked each other out just before the finish line.

Omanyala set the fastest time this season, beating the previous world lead of 9.91 held by Jones Terrence from Bahamas when winning the Percy Beard Track meet on April 15 at Gainesville in Florida, USA.

Mary Moraa sets new PB after cruising to 400m victory in Botswana Golden Grand Prix

A sub 10 performance had proved difficult to come by for Omanyala in his opening three races this season.

The 27-year-old, who has a 9.77s PB started his outdoor season on a high when he ran a world-leading time of 9.81 at the second Athletics Kenya weekend meet. However, the time he posted was rejected by World Athletics due to a faulty wind gauge.

He then competed in 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.

Should the time posted in Gaborone be made official, Omanyala will automatically qualify for the upcoming 2023 World Athletics Championships set to be held from 19-27 August in Budapest, Hungary.

In the first 100m final, Samwel Imeta also emerged champion as he crossed the finish line in a new Personal Best time of 10.10s.

South Africa’s Benjamin Richardson settled for second place in 10.15 as Namibia’s Hainuca Gilbert sealed the podium after clocking 10.17.