Omanyala ambitious ahead of packed season

The fans have been asking: can Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala regain his explosive form? The answer begins at the Lefika Relays in Gaborone on March 28, where Omanyala is set to signal his ambitions before a full season of challenges.

Speaking to Citizen Digital ahead of the meet, Omanyala said starting the season in Gaborone “is the best place to start. First, there’s no pressure, and then we just need to get into the team and enjoy it. It has that aspect of just getting the body back into competition.”

The Commonwealth champion will lead Kenya’s historic first-ever 4×100m mixed relay, a new event on the global stage. On the team’s ambitions, he was confident:

“I’m hoping that we can run a good time. Definitely, our time will be the national record, so we want to start with the bar a bit higher. Hopefully, [we can] just put our mark on the 4×1 mixed, which is a new event, and we hope that we can now build from there.”

Joining Omanyala in the mixed relay will be regulars Boniface Mweresa, Meshack Babu, Millicent Ndolo, and Eunice Kadogo, while fresh from a World Athletics Indoor Championships debut, Mercy Oketch will lead Kenya’s 4×400m mixed relay squad with Allan Kipyego, Kelvin Kipkorir, George Mutinda, and Mercy Chebet.

Kenya’s 4×100m men’s team, ranked 16th globally, is also set to compete at the Lefika Relays, well within the 24-team qualification bracket for the 2026 World Athletics Relays.

This weekend, Gaborone will witness Kenya’s sprint stars laying the groundwork for what promises to be a fast, record-chasing season.

Omanyala endured a challenging start to his indoor season. At the Elite Indoor Track Miramas Meeting, he faded to eighth in the men’s 60m final, while France’s Jesus Orphee Topize won in 6.70 seconds, Japan’s Shushei Tada took second in 6.73, and South Africa’s Tsebo Matsoso claimed third in 6.75. Earlier, at the Meeting de Paris Indoor, Omanyala finished fourth in his heat, narrowly missing the final.

Late into 2025 season , the Kenyan star revealed that persistent pain in his hip, iliopsoas, and gluteal muscles disrupted his preparations toward the end of the 2025 Diamond League circuit, forcing him to withdraw from the Zurich leg.

His personal targets remain ambitious: “The targets: run fast and to get back to running sub-10s. Of course, defending the Commonwealth title later on in the year and definitely looking our sights also at the World Athletics Championships.”