Omanyala impressed by the growth and competition of African sprinters

The Kenyan sprint star says the competition is no longer only between himself and South Africa’s 100m record holder Akani Simbine, with a new generation of African sprinters making their mark.

South Africa’s Gift Leotlela and Bayanda Walaza, Nigeria’s Kanyinsola Ajayi and Cameroon’s Commonwealth Games gold medallist Emmanuel Eseme are among the athletes pushing the standard higher.

Omanyala hopes the growing competition will help African sprinters challenge for more medals at major championships. 

"Definitely, it's a good thing. I am someone who really believes in growth and when you see your brother growing, you know, getting better, at some point they say, you know you inspired me to start doing this, you made me realise that we can run faster,” Omanyala said. 

“So that's humbling and it's a blessing for our continent. Some of the things like this is what makes the World Athletics and all other stakeholders in athletics feel like Africa has talent so why don't we take some things to them. 

“So, definitely it's a good thing and of course, competition is really healthy because you understand that if you mess up or don't put in the hard work someone else is coming for your title. 

“I'm really happy that the African sprinters have really shown up, the likes of Ajayi, Eseme winning the comrades title again. I mean that for me was brilliant to see."

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The talented Kenyan sprint ace started his season strongly, winning the Xiamen Diamond League in 9.94 seconds ahead of South Africa’s Gift Leotlela. 

However, his season was cut short by injury, forcing him to miss the remainder of the Diamond League season and the Commonwealth Games.

Omanyala reflects on a season that produced a couple of sub-10-second performances before injury brought his campaign to an early end. 

"We started the season on a high. Five sub-10s consistently in different places of the continent and the world. We picked up a very good momentum early this season with the win in the Diamond League between one of them and all these other sub 10s,” he added. 

“Definitely that was my highlight of the season and in our sport world where you don't know about tomorrow because it's our bodies in line, at some point before the CommonWealth Games I got a heel fracture. 

“So, I couldn't really manage to push myself through training, through the competition so we had to pull out from the last three important competitions of the year."