Omanyala stays positive after difficult World Championship debut

Africa's fastest man and Kenya's 100m sprint sensation Ferdinand Omanyala has vowed to only look at the positive side of things in his troubled debut onto the World Athletics Championship stage that ended in the semifinal stage.

The African champion and third-fastest man this year before the Championship, arrived in Oregon with about three hours to the 100m heats and was forced to line up in the last of seven heats despite barely having time to go through the pre-race preparation while also battling an over 18 hour flight jetlag that had been occasioned by a delay in visa issuance.

Despite the troubles, the 26 year old managed to overcome the first hurdle as he crossed the line in third place in his heat to automatically qualify for the semifinal race alongside USA's Marvin Bracy and Jamaican Oblique Seville.

OREGON22: Omanyala through to World Championships semis

It is that stage that Omanyala failed to make any progress after finishing fifth with a slow 10.14s that saw the Kenyan man miss out on the two automatic and the two non-automatic qualifying spots for the final.

Jamaica's Seville winning the heat in 9.90 ahead of America's Marvin Bracy (9.93) while Canada's Aaron Brown scooped one of the non-automatic qualifying spots with 10.06.

Following the semifinal exit, Omanyala, who is also set to make his bow at the 2022 Commonwealth Games set for Birmingham from 28 July to 8 August said that challenge will only make him 'better, not bitter' as he moves to the next races.

"Every challenge you face today makes you stronger tomorrow. The challenge of life is intended to make you better, not bitter. Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems. No matter how much falls on us, we keep moving," he posted on his social media platform.

In the final, American Fred Kerley led a US clean sweep as he stormed to victory in the men's 100m at the World Championships in Oregon on Saturday.

Kerley, in lane four, was down on Marvin Bracy for 95 metres of the tight race, but managed to outdip his teammate for victory in 9.86 seconds at Eugene's Hayward Field.

Bracy took silver in 9.88sec, Trayvon Bromell claiming bronze in the same time for a third-ever 100m world championship cleansweep for the United States after 1983 and 1991.