Omanyala powers to 100m gold at Commonwealth Games

Ferdinand Omanyala won Kenya its first gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games after powering to victory in the men’s 100m final on Wednesday night.

The African champion and record holder powered away to take victory in 10.02sec, setting daylight between himself and his South African rival Akani Simbine who came second in 10.13 sec.

Victory offered some sense of redemption for Omanyala who endured an underwhelming outing at the World Athletics Championships last month in Oregon.

Kenya now has seven medals (one gold, three silver and three bronze) after the Kenyan pair of Irene Cheptai and Sheila Chepkirui took silver and bronze respectively behind Eilish McColgan shock victory in the women’s 10,000m.

Former world cross country champion Cheptai timed 30:49.52 for second place with Chepkirui, who limped to the finish after appearing to suffer an injury with meters to go, coming third in 31:09.58.