Ferdinand Omanyala books his spot in the Paris Olympics with a world-leading time in men’s 100m at Kenyan Olympic Trials

African record holder Ferdinand Omanyala recently secured his position in Kenya's squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics. He clocked a world-lead performance in the men’s 100m at the 2024 Kenyan Athletics Olympic Trials that took place on June 14 and June 15 in Nairobi, Kenya.

To secure his spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Omanyala needed to finish in the top two and meet the World Athletics qualifying standard of 10.00s at the Kenyan Olympic trials. He did so by registering a phenomenal world-leading time of 9.79s, to finish ahead of Mark Otieno (10.12s) and Meshack Babu (10.20s).

Track & Field Gazette shared a video of Omanyala sprinting to victory at the Kenyan Olympic Trials on their X handle.

Omanyala has earlier clocked the best time among the three heats during the preliminaries of the event with 10.09s (-1.8 m/s). With this performance, he joined the Kenyan Track & Field squad for the Paris Olympics along with the likes of Faith Kipyegon, Mary Moraa, and Emmanuel Wanyonyi among other top athletes.

Ferdinand Omanyala kicked off his 2024 season by participating in 60m indoor events, culminating his indoor campaign with a fourth-placed finish at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

At the Kip Keino Classic, the 28-year-old clocked a time of 10.03s to open his 100m outdoor campaign. The Kenyan athlete then went on to finish second at the Prefontaine Classic, registering a time of 9.98s, only behind the United States’ Christian Coleman (9.95s).

Omanyala then featured at the Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica where he came third with a 10.02s sprint, trailing only Oblique Seville (9.82s) and the six-time world champion Noah Lyles (9.85s). Seville’s performance at the meet was also the best mark of the year.

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A look at Ferdinand Omanyala’s top accomplishments

Ferdinand Omanyala of Team Kenya celebrates with their countries flag after winning the Gold medal in the Men's 100m Final on day six of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at Alexander Stadium on August 03, 2022 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Ferdinand Omanyala is renowned for establishing the African record in the men’s 100m at the 2021 Kip Keino Classic in a time of 9.77s (+1.2 m/s). Additionally, he is a two-time African Championships gold medalist in the 100m and 4x100m relay events.

He also won the gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the 100m as he registered a time of 10.02s to clinch the title, ahead of second-placed Akani Simbine (10.13s).