"It’s over for Noah"; "Unfortunately he has a big stage fright"- Fans in splits as Ferdinand Omanyala clocks the 100m world lead at the Olympic trials

Ferdinand Omanyala stormed through the finals in the 100m at the Kenyan Olympic Trials. The African record holder dominated the race and clocked 99.79s (+1.5), which is the world lead for the 2024 Olympic season and the fastest time officially recorded in a race since 2022.

Ferdinand Omanyala also qualified for the Paris Olympics as he finished first with a formidable lead. The Parsi Olympics qualification standard at the Kenyan Olympic trials stood at 10.00s with the first two athletes who surpass the qualification mark gaining automatic qualification in the Kenyan Olympic squad.

His incredible performance left fans in splits as they wondered whether the Kenyan Athlete would be able to perform at the top level in major events where he'll be competing alongside athletes like Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman. Omanyala's world-leading performance is just a testament to how competitive the upcoming Olympics in Paris will be.

Fans drew comparisons between Noah Lyles and Ferdinand Omanyala however, they could not help but mention his previous performances at the Tokyo Olympics and other major races, where he could not perform up to his true potential.

" It’s over for Noah🤣," wrote a fan.

"Unfortunately he has a big stage fright. Just like Asafa Powell, when it comes to the big races he performs dismally," wrote another fan.

"Not moved. He always does this so I need to see it in a global final," another fan tweeted.

Here are some more fan reactions :

"I think he was under more pressure from qualifying then winning. Watch out USA, Africa might just be winning gold in this year's Olympics 🥇," wrote another fan.

" Always always, so happy for this guy. Hopefully, he gets an important medal when it matters the most - at the Olympics🤞," another fan tweeted.

" He always chokes at the world stage. We wait to see if he can repeat this performance at the olympics," another fan chimed in.

Ferdinand Omanyala opens up on being the fastest Kenyan sprinter

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As Ferdinand Omanyala is gearing up for the Paris Olympics, he opened up to Olympics.com in an interview where he spoke about being the fastest Kenyan sprinter and changing the perceptions of Kenyan athletes as great middle and long-distance runners.

"I'll go down as the fastest sprinter Kenya has ever had. Of course my records will be broken, but I'll be the person who came about and changed the notion that Kenyans are only known for long and middle distance. That is what I'm going down in books for," he said.

The Kenyan athlete will compete alongside some of the world's top sprinters at the Paris Olympics in quest of his first-ever Olympic medal.