Commonwealth Games: Omanyala exudes confidence in bagging 100m gold

Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala is confident of mining gold for Team Kenya in 100m at the ongoing Commonwealth Games after booking a place in the semis.

The sprinter cruised to a 10.07 victory in the 5th heat of 100m men in Birmingham, England to punch a ticket to the semis that is slated for a 9:10 pm kick-off on Wednesday 3 August.

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Speaking after running in the heat, Omanyala revealed that he is looking to slash a second off his time and was confident of bagging gold in the Games.

“I want to really improve my times and I'm looking forward to running faster tomorrow. I want to take gold which is no pressure because I came here for gold and nothing else.

I'm targeting 9.7 or 9.8 but if I push myself to 9.6 I'll also welcome that but let's see what I will post tomorrow. I'm looking to push myself to the maximum in the semis and finals,” said Omanyala.

With the absence of the American speed merchants and Olympic gold medalist Marcell Jacobs in the Games, Omanyala stands a chance of claiming victory.

Omanyala added that his relatively slow time posted in heat by his lofty standards was due to him persevering some energy for the semis and finals.

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“Today was a heat so I can't really go full pace on heats, I hope tomorrow will be better. I'm really looking forward to going below 10 seconds and winning gold. Today was all about feeling my body because I haven't competed fully for like a month because Oregon was not good at all.

The most important thing was having a feel at the stadium and feeling the energy inside which was there I have to admit and tomorrow I'm coming to run knowing what to expect,” added Omanyala.