Nairobi — With just two weeks to go until the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala remains optimistic of his gold medal prospects.

The short distance runner has put the World Athletics Championships behind him and is already eyeing Birmingham as his opportunity to "go down in history".

And as much as the United States athletes will be missing in action, Omanyala believes that the rest of the field in Birmingham will not be a pushover.

"We still have Jamaicans, South Africans and I don't go to any competition looking down upon any competitor because you never know how prepared they are."

Reflecting on his Eugene woes, Omanyala explained: "10.01 is not a slow time. I beat people who were here (Eugene) for like three weeks. I still give myself a tap on the back. But all the same, I can't remain comfortable saying that I have achieved what I wanted. As much as I ran that time, I believe I could even run better."

The Kenyan sprinter suffered a similar fate in Tokyo where he was eliminated in the Semis.

But having already taken some impressive scalps, Omanyala is looking to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games with renewed expectations.

With an apparently insatiable appetite for success, Omanyala expounded: "I am looking forward to running fast at the Commonwealth Games and again with minimal pressure."

"We have like 15 days to put ourselves back on track and train for the Games. And this time, I will get there earlier because I am going there on the 21st (of July) so the essence is just to focus on running fast."

"I will be in Birmingham 10 days before my race so that's a good thing because in Tokyo again we did the same thing. I am not worried about acclimatization because 10 days is enough for me to get into the understanding of how the weather works there."