Omanyala's Power Surge: Michael Johnson's analysis highlights potential World Championship triumph

Retired American sprinter and United States Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004 Michael Duane Johnson on Thursday weighed on the men’s 100m race in the upcoming World Athletics Championships scheduled for August 19-27, and did not hold back on some nuggets on Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala.

In his ‘Men World Champs 100 Notes’, the only male athlete in history to win both the 200 meters and 400 meters events at the same Olympics - Atlanta 1996 - Johnson put up a list of seven athletes in the competitively stacked sprint race, putting up positives and drawbacks for each one, coupled up with an ‘intangible’ spurring the athlete to the championships.

“+ (Positives) Power. - (Negatives) technique. Motivated to make history,” Johnson voiced his opinion on Omanyala.

The analysis goes on to back up the initial questions the eight-time World Championships gold medalist had on Omanyala’s ability when he posted: “I believe Omanyala will be the first African to win a 100m World Championships medal. His muscular structure provides tremendous power but do any coaches or sport science experts out there think it could become a limiting factor in his ability to sprint efficiently?”

It has never been in any doubt on the power Omanyala possesses, and going by the spot on breakdown on the African champion’s ‘motivation to make history’, success couldn’t be far away when the gun goes off in a potential 100m finals appearance for the Kenyan on Sunday (20 August) evening.

Omanyala chasing history in upcoming Budapest World Championships

“My eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life,” Omanyala, who had been training in France after getting his first Diamond League victory in Monaco wrote in a recent post.

Whatever happens in Budapest, will continue to blaze a trail Omanyala has set, as he continues to in his words, ‘change the whole perspective about sprinting in Kenya.’

A consistent performer on the Diamond League stage this year, placing third in Rabat and second in Florence and Paris, the battle for the 27 year old will be against some of the world’s best elite sprinters namely; Fred Kerley, who has a season best of 9.88 and regarded by Johnson as ‘a championship performer’, Noah Lyles - a two-time World champion in 200m, Zharnel Hughes - the fastest man this year, the ‘nearly’ man of the 100m Akani Simbine and ‘youthful and unafraid’ Botsawana's Letsile Tebogo.

Could be time to answer any questions.