Ferdinand Omanyala: Kenyan sprinter makes history, misses 100m Olympics final by whisker

Sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala may have exited the Olympics stage but he did so on a high having made history as the first Kenyan to ever make an Olympics semis in 100 metres.

Omanyala twice broke the national record, first on Saturday when he ran 10.01 seconds in the heats at the Tokyo Stadium and lowered that time by 0.01 seconds in the semi final, beating his idol Yohan Blake.

However, he missed out on the final by a whisker after emerging 9th overall.

He immediately became a huge sensation among Kenyans, who paid accolades to him for being the fastest Kenyan ever.

“Ferdinand Omanyala Omurwa has made history and done the country proud at the 2020 #TokyoOlympics by being the first Kenyan sprinter to qualify for the 100m semi finals and missing the finals by a slight margin,” State House wrote on their Facebook page with Kenyans praising the youngster for the heroic performance with messages on Twitter .

Omanyala, who is an ex-rugby player with Mean Machine, says his focus is now on the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games next year as he looks forward to Paris Games in 2024.

The second Kenyan sprinter Mark Otieno was dropped from the Games after adverse findings in his testing sample on the eve of the start of the heats.