Omanyala among star attractions as second AK track meet beckons

African 100m record holder and Commonwealth Games champion Ferdinand Omanyala begins his year with a home race as he lines up for the second Athletics Kenya (AK) track and field weekend meet.

AK is set to host the two-day event at Ulinzi Sports Complex, on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 January 2024.

Obiri, Rupp to headline Houston City Marathon in January

The meet will be used as part of the qualifiers for various international championships and is open to all athletes, according to the national federation communique. 

"All athletes will be required to collect their numbers in PERSON on Thursday 4 January 2024 at Nyayo Stadium starting 9am to 6pm. Any athlete who fails to collect their bib numbers on the date indicated above will NOT be allowed to compete.

AK will use this meet, together with other meetings when considering athletes to be invited for Trials for African Games and as such we encourage athletes to participate," the communique reads in part.

Omanyala is looking to bounce back from a somewhat disappointing end to his 2023 season where he failed to live up to expectations at the World Championships in Budapest, finishing seventh.

After the World Championships, Omanyala went to two races, the Gala dei Castelli and Palio Citta' della Quercia where he finished second in both, losing to Oblique Seville.

In November 2023, the speedster joined top African sprint coach Geoffrey Kimani and has since been working with him ahead of the new season.

The renowned Strength and Conditioning (S&C) coach, who also has deep roots in coaching sprints and hurdles, was the S&C coach for Team Kenya to the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the sprints and hurdles coach for Team Kenya to the World Championships in 2015.

Below are the events.

1) 100M M/W

2) 100M/110M Hurdles M/W

3) 200M M/W

4) 400M M/W 5) 400m HM/W

6) 800M M/W

7) 1500M M/W 8) 3000m SC M/W

9) 5000M M/W

10) 10,000M M/W

11) 4 X 400M M/W

12) 4 X 100M M/W

13) High Jump

14) Long Jump M/W

15) Triple Jump M/W

16) Shot Put M/W

17) Discus M/W

18) Hammer M/W

19) Javelin M/W 20)10Km Race Walk M/W

21) Pole Vault M/W

22) Combine Events