Despite finishing fifth at the Kip Keino Classic, Ferdinand Omanyala, Africa’s fastest man, is set to receive a portion of the prize money thanks to Absa Bank’s sponsorship of the event.
The race, held at the Nyayo National Stadium, drew thousands of fans eager to witness Omanyala’s talent in action.
Omanyala’s performance, though not securing a podium finish clocked a time of 10.03 seconds, facing stiff competition from top sprinters, including America’s Kenneth Bednarek, who claimed victory with a time of 9.91 seconds.
The prize money distribution, according to World Athletic, the winners of the race in the core events will walk away with about sh 667,500 with the second and third-place finishers walking away with sh 400,500 and sh 267,000.
The athletes who finished fourth, fifth, and sixth in the core events will pocket about sh 186,900, sh 160,200, and sh 133,500 respectively. The athletes who finish seventh and eighth will walk away with sh 106,800 and sh 80,100.
Meanwhile, speaking after the race, Omanyala given reasons why he was not disappointed at failing to defend his title at Kip Keino Classic following a fifth-place finish.
Omanyala said he saw the need to take a different approach this season if he was to be successful at the Olympics even if it means starting from the bottom.
“This season we are changing how we are looking at the race, we are happy with what we have run today so we just build on that so now we know where we are,” Omanyala said after the race.
“We are approaching this season differently, I don’t want to peak too early, I don’t want to peak in March and then we go down before August so that is the plan so we will make sure we correct everything as we go on.
“This is my first 100m after a long time so today [Saturday], was to see where we are and see if we are going to push hard in training but the next one month is about maintaining where we are, the real deal is coming in three months, the Olympics.”
