The African 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala has set a new African record in the 150m race at the Atlanta City Games in the United States on Sunday.
Omanyala finished third in the race with a time of 14.89 seconds, with home athlete Noah Lyles taking first place in 14.56 seconds and Erriyon Knighton coming in second at 14.85 seconds.
Omanyala was in the lead at the 100m mark, but Lyles’ impressive performance secured him the victory.
Omanyala broke Namibian Frankie Fredericks’ record of 14.99 seconds and set a new African record in the process, adding to his African 100m record of 9.77 seconds, which he achieved at the 2020 Kip Keino Classic.
Fredericks had set the 150m (bend) record in 1993 during the World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, when he won the 200m title in a championship record time of 19.85 seconds.
Lyles’ win at the Atlanta City Games solidified his position as one of the fastest athletes in the world. He is now the third-fastest athlete of all time over the 150m distance, behind Jamaican Usain Bolt and fellow American Tyson Gay.
Lyles is set to defend his 200m title at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, from August 19 to 27.
It’s important to note that the 150m is not a World Athletics-recognised event. Omanyala is scheduled to defend his Kip Keino Classic title on Saturday at the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani.
In other news, Polish athlete Angelika Cichocka, who won the silver medal in the 800m at the 2014 World Indoor Championships, has arrived in Kenya for the Kip Keino Classic.
Cichocka will be competing in the 1,500m event at the competition. She finished 13th in the 1,500m at the Doha Diamond League on Friday, with Kenya’s Olympic and world 1,500m champion, Faith Chepng’etich, winning the race.
