Kenyans celebrated a historic sprinting achievement as Ferdinand Omanyala, Africa's fastest man, established a new national 60m record of 6.63 seconds during the Miramas Meeting in France. The Tokyo Olympics semifinalist broke the 17-year-old national benchmark twice in a single competition.
Omanyala first surpassed the previous mark of 6.70 seconds set by Paulvince Obuon in 2005 during heats, then improved to 6.63 in the final. His time also exceeded the stadium record of 6.68 seconds held by Iranian athlete Hassan Taftian since 2021.
The 26-year-old athlete shared his accomplishment on social media, quoting his own statement: "We start with a win this season in the 60M dash. Meeting record, Stadium record, National record." The achievement occurred during preparations for events in Mondeville and Paris in February 2022.
The African 60m record remains at 6.45 seconds by Ghana's Leonard Myles-Mills, while American Christian Cole holds the world record of 6.34 seconds.
