It was a World Athletics Championship Ferdinand Omanyala will want to forget as he finished seventh in the final of the men’s 100 meters in Budapest on Sunday.
America’s Noah Lyles won the final after running a world-leading 9.83 to become the world champion. After an impressive performance in the Diamond League, expectations for Omanyala were high, only for him to finish a distant seventh in 10.07.
Letsile Tebogo of Botswana became the first African to win a medal in the competition, finishing second in 9.88 while Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain was third as he ran 9.88.
Speaking after the race, Omanyala described it as just ‘a bad day in the office’ vowing to go back to the drawing board to find out what went wrong and make amends next time out.
All is not doom and gloom, as the 26-year-old will still be smiling his way to the bank as he is set to receive a monstrous paycheck for his seventh place finish.
So, what will Omanyala earn for his conquest in Hungary?
Every athlete who finishes in the top 8 in their respective disciplines is receiving some prize money for their efforts to finish in the respective positions.
As per World Athletics. A total of $8,498,000 in prize money will be on offer in Budapest, Hungary.
The winning athlete will take home $ 70, 000 (Ksh. 9.8 million). Silver medalists take home $35,000 (Ksh. 4.9 million), while bronze medalists tale $22,000 (Ksh 3.08 million)
The fourth place finisher will take home $16,000 (2.3 million), with the fifth getting $11,000 (Ksh 1.6 million).
Sixth place finishers get $7000(Ksh 980,000), seventh place finishers get $6000 (Ksh. 840,000) and eighth place finishers get $5000 (Ksh 700,000).
Having finished seventh, Omanyala will pocked Ksh 840, 000, a paycheck that should help him in his quest to correct his mistakes and prepare himself for the forthcoming season, which will culminate in taking part in the Olympics scheduled to take place in Paris next year.
Africa’s fastest man was having a great season prior to this and he will be looking to bounce back by winning the Diamond League final next month in Eugene.
