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Kenyans have lengthy dominated the rostrum with regards to lengthy distance working, however now Ferdinand Omanyala is seeking to encourage a brand new era of runners and remodel Kenya right into a “sprinting nation.”
The 26-year-old is main by instance after he secured a number of victories this yr. In Could, Omanyala was first to the lads’s 100 meter end line on the World Athletics Continental Tour. The next month, he clinched first place within the 100m once more after a photo-finish on the African Athletic Championships. And Omanyala earned Kenya its first 100m gold medal in 60 years on the 2022 Commonwealth Video games.
The sprinter, who made it to the 100m semi-finals within the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Video games, says he’s repeatedly coaching for the following competitors.
biggest of all time,” and Kipchoge confirmed it as soon as once more on the Tokyo Olympics, profitable gold within the males’s marathon. That is back-to-back wins for the Kenyan celebrity, making him solely the third man ever to defend his gold medal on this occasion.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” peak=”2129″/>Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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2:27:20, simply forward of teammate and world record-holder Brigid Kosgei, who took the silver medal.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” peak=”2000″/>Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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Peruth Chemutai, Uganda: On the observe inside Tokyo’s Nationwide Stadium, Chemutai entered the report books for Uganda within the girls’s 3,000-meter steeplechase by changing into the primary girl to win gold for her nation in any sport.
Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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Joshua Cheptegei, Uganda: Extra historical past for Uganda got here from world record-holder Cheptegei, who gained gold within the males’s 5,000m and silver within the males’s 10,000m — changing into the primary Ugandan to win two Olympic medals on the similar Video games.
Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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Feryal Abdelaziz, Egypt: Within the girls’s +61kg karate kumite occasion, which made its debut at Tokyo 2020, Abdelaziz (left) turned the primary girl from Egypt to win a gold medal for her nation.
Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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Religion Kipyegon, Kenya: Kenya celebrated extra record-breaking success on the observe when Kipyegon defended her gold medal within the girls’s 1,500m, setting a brand new Olympic report within the course of.
first gymnast to qualify and compete for Nigeria on the Olympics.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” peak=”2020″/>Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa: A shiny spot for South Africa in Tokyo was Schoenmaker, who gained swimming gold within the girls’s 200m breaststroke by setting a world report. She additionally took the silver medal within the girls’s 100m breaststroke.
Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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Selemon Barega, Ethiopia: Crossing the end line forward of Ugandans Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo, Barega captured the gold medal within the males’s 10,000 meters.
2012.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” peak=”2007″/>Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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first gold within the males’s 3,000m steeplechase, when El Bakkali topped an all-Africa podium forward of Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma (left) who took silver and Kenya’s Benjamin Kigen (proper) with the bronze.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” peak=”1922″/>Pictures: These African athletes made historical past at Tokyo 2020
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For Omanyala, racing is “90% psychological.” Together with rigorous coaching and exercise periods, the observe star says his trick to preserving calm is to visualise the occasion for weeks main as much as race day.
“There are all the time two sides of a race: you both win or lose. So, I all the time visualize each, in order that after I get right into a race and one thing occurs, it doesn’t hit me that onerous as a result of I’ve already visualized that,” he mentioned.
Learn extra: What it’s wish to circumnavigate a whole African nation on foot in 16 days
Reflecting on his profession, Omanyala says certainly one of his greatest accomplishments was setting the African 100-meter report on the Kip Keino Basic in 2021, regardless of lacking out on gold by 0.01 seconds. With a time of 9.77, Omanyala turned Africa’s quickest sprinter and the ninth quickest man in historical past.
“I keep in mind I by no means recovered for like a month. I used to be simply nonetheless considering, ‘Is it a dream? I’m not believing that that is occurring,’” he mentioned.
Now, the sprinter has his sights set on breaking the 100m world report, which is presently held by Usain Bolt with a time of 9.58 seconds. “I’m in search of working 9.6 this season after which taking it down within the close to future,” he mentioned.
Watch the video above to see how Omanyala is coaching the following era of sprinters.
