Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala made history on February 4, 2022, by setting a new national record in the 60 meters dash at the World Indoor Tour Miramas Meeting in France.
With a time of 6.63 seconds, Omanyala broke the 17-year-old record previously held by Paulvince Obuon since 2005.
Just a year prior, Omanyala had recorded an impressive African best time of 9.77 seconds at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games, breaking the 9.85 seconds record held by South African Akani Simbine at the Kip-Keino Classics in Nairobi on September 18, 2021.
Speaking after his record-breaking performance, Omanyala said, “I had fun. It’s a great experience. Though when I started to pick up speed the race was over.”
He added, “I take it as training as I build towards the outdoor season. My target now is to run 6.40 seconds before the World Indoor Championships. I have more races and six weeks to improve on the time,”
Following his success in Miramas, Omanyala will head to Paris for two more races: the Mondeville Meeting on February 9 and the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Paris on February 17.
He is also scheduled to compete in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade from March 18-20 and the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022 in Eugene, United States, from July 15-24.
