Simbine, Walaza posing tough test for Omanyala in Botswana
Reading Time: 2min | Fri. 04.04.25. | 18:16
Last week, Omanyala was in Uganda, where he won the 100m race at the third National Trials at Mandela Stadium
As elite athletes descend on Botswana for one of Africa’s top-tier athletics events on the global calendar, the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix set for Saturday, 12 April, Africa’s 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala has his work cut out.
The Commonwealth Games champion goes up against reigning World Indoor Championships 60m dash bronze medalist Akani Simbine and World U20 double (100m and 200m) champion Bayanda Walaza.
The South African duo was part of the 4x100m silver medal winning quartet at the Paris Olympics.
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Bayanda Walaza 🇿🇦 , Akani Simbine 🇿🇦 and Ferdinand Omanyala 🇰🇪
— Justin Lagat (@LagatJustin) April 3, 2025
are entered in the 100m race at the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix! #ContinentalTourGold pic.twitter.com/RAAb492CMU
Also expected to line up for the 100m is 2020 Olympic 200m champion, Canadian Andre De Grasse.
Omanyala, who chose to sit out the Indoor season this year, will be hoping to build on his show at the ASA South Africa Grand Prix, where he competed in two 100m races.
On 12 March, the national record holder placed third in 10.22 behind South Africa’s Karabo Letebele (10.19) and Erasmus Emile (10.19) in Pretoria.
He then raced to victory in 10.08, finishing ahead of Tsebo Matsoso (10.12) and Bradley Nkoana (10.16) in Johannesburg seven days later.
Last week, Omanyala was in Uganda, where he won the 100m race at the third National Trials at Mandela Stadium, clocking 10.09 seconds and leading a 4x100m team to victory in 39.50 seconds.
The Kenyan sprinter goes to battle against South Africa’s prodigy Walaza whose meteoric rise has seen him set a new national Under-20 record, becoming the joint fifth fastest junior athlete ever in the world over 100m on Saturday, 16 March.
He clocked a 9.99 seconds personal best (PB) to win the Gauteng North Provincial championships, chopping 0.04 seconds off the previous record of 10.03, held by Nkoana.
Meanwhile, Simbine brings the heat from Nanjing, where he finished behind Britain’s Jeremiah Azu (6.49) and Australia’s Lachlan Kennedy (6.50). In the build-up to the global competition, the former African record holder (dethroned by Omanyala) had finished second at the ISTAF Indoor meet in Germany (6.57) before storming to victory at the A-Bond Inter-High meet in South Africa in a similar time.
De Grasse, on his part, has only raced the 60m this season, going on to place sixth at the Astana Indoor Meet with 6.74, a similar time to his heat time.
