TOKYO2025: Ferdinand Omanyala through to semis as chase for world medal continues

Commonwealth Games 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala is through to the World Championships semi-finals after finishing third by clocking 10.12 seconds in Heat 7 on Saturday, 13 September, in Tokyo, Japan.

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Lining up against the man he snatched the African record from, South Africa’s Akani Simbine, Omanyala’s quick reaction time (0.156) put him ahead early, trailing China’s Xinrui Deng, who got off the blocks in 0.155.

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Halfway through, Simbine, racing in his seventh World Championships, took the lead, zooming past Omanyala and the now tiring Deng, to take the race in 10.02 and lead an all-African podium finish as Ghana’s national champion Abdul-Rasheed Saminu clocked 10.09 seconds to finish ahead of Omanyala.

The Kenyan is getting back into competition after an injury-occasioned break, his last race coming on 22 August, where he clocked 10.49 for seventh, the race coming hot on the heels of an eighth-place (10.26) finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Omanyala, placed in heat two of the semi-finals, goes to battle against five runners who went under 10 seconds in the qualification rounds, led by South Africa’s Gift Leotlela. Leotlela clocked a massive Personal Best (PB) of 9.87s (0.3) to win heat one. Kanyinsola Ajayi was second in a 9.88 PB, while Oblique Seville was third in 9.93s after a poor start.

Meanwhile, Kishane Thompson cruised through heat two, clocking 9.95s (1.4) to finish ahead of Eliezer Adjibi (10.19) and Ronal Longa (10.21). Defending champion Noah Lyles cruised to a 9.95 victory in heat three with Ackeem Blake (10.07) and Terrence Jones (10.16) completing the top three.

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In heat four, Kenny Bednarek won in 10.01, ahead of Jerome Blake (10.05) and Jeremiah Azu (10.10). Meanwhile, Letsile Tebogo easily won his heat in 10.07, ahead of Andre de Grasse (10.16) and Courtney Lindsey (10.19).

Heat six had Nigeria’s Israel Okon winning in 10.04, beating Zharnel Hughes (10.06) and former Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs, who clocked a 10.20 season best.