Kenya's sprint story will never be the same- Omanyala

"Whatever you’re facing right now—it’s not the end of your story. God is with you and always will be. Thank you to everyone who believes that the Kenyan sprint story will never be the same again (sic)."

These are the sentiments of Commonwealth Games 100m champion and Africa's fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala following his Paris Olympics performance. 

Hopes for an Olympic medal were dashed when the sprinter finished eighth in his semis heat to miss out on the final, a performance that left many casting doubt on the Kenyan's ability to handle the big stage.

In Tokyo, he also faltered in the semis, finishing third on what was his debut to narrowly miss out on the final.

Expectations were, however, higher in Paris as he headed to the competition as one of the favourites, having run the second fastest time this year after Jamaican Kishane Thompson. 

The athlete has, however, chosen to celebrate his massive achievements that have changed the Kenyan sprints narrative, hopefully. 

For an athlete who was thrust into the limelight due to controversy as Athletics Kenya (AK) insisted he stood no chance to be at the Tokyo Summer Games for having served a doping violation ban, Omanyala has done well for himself. 

He qualified for Tokyo on the very last day of the window alongside Mark Otieno who would later be banned. 

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Omanyala was the sole Team Kenya representative in the 100m in Paris. The other sprinters with individual races included Zablon Ekwam who registered a DNF in the 400m after picking an injury, 400m hurdles runner Wiseman Were.

Meanwhile, Omanyala's coach Geoffrey Kimani took to social media, taking responsibility for his athlete's performance in Paris while agreeing that Kenya's sprint story has forever been changed.

"The biggest stage of any athletes career will always be the Olympics, there was never any doubts about the magnitude of the challenge that lay ahead of us... Massive work and effort went into preparing @ferdiomanyala for this... always the fighter and taking everything that was required of him...trusted and committed to the process 100% (sic)," he started. 

"In the end, it wasn't enough to put us on the podium, no fault on Ferdy's (Omanyala) abilities or talents...this squarely comes down to the performance part of things which lies on my hands as COACH...for this I take full responsibility (sic)," he continued. 

Kimani says the duo will return to training and finish the season with a lot of valuable lessons and insights on what they need to do better going forward.

"Ferdinand is an embodiment of resilience and belief, took up an event, and firmly fixed his eyes on the prize, a Kenyan sprinter in the 100m world stage is now possible....fuel to the embers that are many more young Kenyans and further debunking myths about sprinting," he added.