Ferdinand Omanyala is a Kenyan athlete who enjoys the privilege of being recognised as Africa’s fastest man and the 9th fastest man of all time.
In August, Ferdinand Omanyala claimed Kenya’s first 100m gold medal in 60 years at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
This year, Africa’s fastest man made his Olympic debut in Paris. Although he didn’t win a medal, his efforts to elevate Kenya in a discipline the country rarely excels in are commendable.
Omanyala is a short-distance runner and participates in 60, 100 & 200-metre races.
The prolific athlete has been crowned the fastest man in Africa after clocking a time of 9.77 at the Kip Keino Classic in 2021.
Throughout his career, Omanyala has been able to bag several medals.
In 2022, he won his first international championship, recording a win in the 100-metre race at the Commonwealth Games.
Omanyala began his athletics career in 2015 at a time when he was a chemistry student at the University of Nairobi.
He made the transition after a friend noticed his speed while he was playing rugby.
It did not take long after he transitioned from rugby to track for him to participate in a competitive race, setting a time of 10.4 s in his first Athletics Kenya (AK) meet in Kakamega.
In his first year as an athlete, Omanyala won the national Olympic trials in the 100 m race recording a time of 10.37 s. However, he fell short of the qualifying threshold for the Olympics which was 10.16 s at the time.
He has however since emerged stronger from that setback and now stands tall as the undisputed fastest man in the continent.