Kenya: Why Omanyala Was 'Mad' With His Teammates At World Relays

4 May 2026
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Omondi Onyatta

NAIROBI — Commonwealth Games 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala admits he was 'mad' with his teammates after a poor performance on the opening day of the World Relays in Botswana on Saturday.

The African record holder says they could have performed better than their fifth place finish in Round One of the men's 4x100m relay on Saturday.

"There was a lot of pressure from how we ran yesterday (Saturday). I was a bit mad at the boys and I am glad they showed up today and did a good job. I feel that our performance was a bit sluggish...the exchanges were not as quick as today (Sunday), the takeoffs were not as fast," Omanyala said.

The quartet of Mark Otieno, Meshack Babu, Ronald Kiprono and Omanyala clocked 38.50 in Round 1 on Saturday afternoon, finishing fifth behind winners Canada, Germany (2nd), Australia (3rd) and Jamaica (4th).

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However, they atoned for that atrocity with a better performance in Round 2 on Sunday, timing 38.27 to finish third, behind China and Ghana, respectively.

As they cross fingers for a ticket to next year's World Championships in Beijing, the 2022 African champion is confident the team is due for a medal, sooner rather than later.

"I have always had a thing for 4x100m relay ever since I joined athletics. Yesterday didn't go as planned but the good thing about sports is you can shed off all that disappointment and move on. I am looking forward to more competitions this year and I am sure we will be in Beijing next year," Omanyala said.

Individually, the sprints star is looking to build upon a hugely successful month in April in which he clocked a sub-10 in all the races he ran in.

Omanyala clocked 9.98 to win the men's 100m at the Addis Ababa Grand Prix in Ethiopia on April 18 before triumphing at his Nyayo Stadium stomping ground at the Kip Keino Classic.

Omanyala clocked 9.96 in the men's 100m at the World Continental Tour Gold event on April 24 before stopping the clocking at 9.95 at the Botswana Grand Prix, two days later.

"The main thing was to get through this African tour, which went well...three sub-10s in a month and finishing it off with the relays. I think I'll just go back to training for three weeks...unless I get a lane in the Chinese Diamond League, I'll just train and pick up on the competition in June," he said.

The 29-year-old will be seeking to defend his Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23-August 1.

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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