Africa’s fastest man and the reigning 100m Commonwealth Champion Ferdinand Omanyala on Sunday afternoon got back to winning ways as he breezed to a comfortable victory in the men’s 100m race at the Memorial Borisa Hanžekovića World Continental Tour Gold meeting in Zagreb, Croatia.
Coming off two second-place finishes in his last two races at the Gala dei Castelli meeting in Switzerland and Palio Citta della Querca in Italy last week, the Kenyan produced a fine race Sunday, reaping from a decent start to win in a time of 9.94 seconds.
The win was a sweet revenge for Omanyala, who had finished as bridesmaid in the aforementioned twin events, with the winner in both occasions – Jamaican Oblique Seville – coming in second clocking 10.07.
Reigning 100m men’s Olympic Champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs was a close third in 10.08 seconds.
Brandon Carnes (USA) failed again to dip under 10 seconds as he timed 10.27 to come home fourth, with Japanese athlete Abdul Hakim Sani Brown finishing fifth clocking 10.29.
With one more race to go for Omanyala this season, his win here was his first since fending off Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo to triumph in 21 July’s Monaco Diamond League meeting in a time of 9.92 seconds.
His next meeting will be the Diamond League final – Prefontaine Classic – on 16 and 17 September at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
