Omanyala claims first 100m victory in Diamond League after reigning in Monaco

Commonwealth Games gold medalist Ferdinand Omanyala registered his first Diamond League series victory on Friday night as he stormed to a 9.92 seconds win in the men’s 100m race at the Stade Louis II Stadium in Monaco.

The Kenyan, who is also Africa's fastest man over the distance, made a rather slow start but breezed past the field ahead, narrowly nicking Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo at the line.

The pair had to wait for a photo finish confirmation, with Omanyala taking the win over the World U20 champion by 0.01 seconds.

With that, Tebogo marked his season best time this year, as did Jamaican star Yohan Blake - who came in fourth in a time of 10.01.

The race was initially built-up as a head to head match-up between Omanyala and South African Akani Simbine, but the latter withdrew, with Ivorian Arthur Cisse taking up his place.

And so after four previous attempts at claiming a Diamond League win, Omanyala is a champion in Monaco, with a trip to Austria on 29 July on his sights.

In another breathtaking performance on the track, national 3000m steeplechase champion Simon Koech announced himself on the big stage as he claimed a memorable Diamond League victory in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, registering a personal best time of 8:04.19.

The win, his first, and the latest since winning the World Athletics trials in Nairobi earlier this month, was all the sweeter, in that it came with a valuable ticket to the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, with the youngster hitting the 8:15.00 qualifying time he was after.

There was no stopping the former World Under-20 bronze medalist as he pressed on the gas early on, leaving his compatriot Abraham Kibiwot in his wake, to the impressive victory that he celebrated at the line with a big smile.

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Commonwealth champion Kibiwot came in second clocking 8:09.54, with the other two Kenyans involved - Amos Serem and 2016 Olympic Champion Conseslus Kipruto - coming in 13th and 14th in times of 8:24.02 and 8:24.46 respectively.

Before that, former World Junior Record holder in the 5000 meters Hagos Gebrhiwet was the toast of the town as he clinched the men’s 5000m race in a personal best time of 12:42.18.

The double world 5000m medalist with just over a lap to go in the highly enthralling race, breezed past Kenyan Jacob Krop, leading home a 1-2-3 Ethiopian finish, with world leader Berihu Aregawi and Telahun Bekele closing in second and third positions, clocking 12:42.58 and 12:42.70.

Krop, who momentarily held the lead midway through the race up until he was pipped on the penultimate lap, came in fifth in a season best time of 12:46.02, behind Spain’s Mohamed Katir.

Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo could only finish sixth, clocking 12:48.78, with the other Kenyan - Cornelius Kemboi - in 12th place.