After missing out on last year's 100m title at home, Africa's race record holder Ferdinand Omanyala reclaimed the Kipkeino Classic 100m title when he stormed to victory during the Continental Tour at Nyayo National Stadium on Friday, clocking 9.96 seconds.
Speaking to Radio Generation after the race, Omanyala, who began his season last week at the Ethiopia Grand Prix in Addis Ababa with a 9.98 win, said that winning the Kipkeino Classic in Nairobi was important for Kenyan athletics as the title had evaded the country last year.
"This race is important to me, to my family, and Kenyans at large. We didn't win it last year, we had to do it this year, because we are home," Africa's fastest man told Radio Generation's Sports editor Sammy Muraya.
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Omanyala, who has now clocked a back-to-back sub-10, was in a world-class field that included Canada’s Aaron Brown and the USA’s Brandon Hicklin. He also added that his busy 2026 calendar year had started well.
"The fans at home have always been terrific; they fire me up. The weather also has been excellent, a first time for me to run under floodlights at home," he continued.
"When you start well, you want to continue like that and I hope it shall be well for me this 2026," he finalized.
The Kenyan ace missed out on the 2025 Kipkeino Classic to Australia's Lachlan Kennedy, who ran and won a personal best of 9.98 seconds at the Ulinzi Sports Complex on May 31, 2025, clearly upsetting favorite Ferdinand Omanyala (10.07s), who finished third, while South Africa's Bayanda Walaza took second in 10.03s.
While his official personal best remains the 9.77s African record set on this same soil in 2021, Friday's 9.96s is a massive statement of intent for the 2026 season.
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