100m MEN – Venue: Tokyo Olympic Stadium
Time: 1:15pm (Kenya time)
How to watch: KTN Home
National record holder in Men’s 100m Ferdinand Omanyala has lit up living rooms in Kenya after qualifying for the Olympic semi-finals of the event here in Tokyo.
Omanyala equaled his national record of 10.01 in finishing third in Heat 5 on Saturday, sending twitter on meltdown in Kenya.
He returns today to the Tokyo Olympic Stadium at 1:15pm Kenyan time. He is in Heat 1 where his 10.01 mark is the second slowest. Jamaican Yohan Blake with a Personal Best of 9.69 ranks as the fastest.
100m Semi-finals
Heat 1
Lane Athlete Nation PB
2 Usheoritse Itsekiri NIG 10.02
3 Reece Prescod Gbr 9.92
4 Gift Leotlela SA 9.94
5 Yohan Blake JAM 9.69
6 Andre de Grasse CAN 9.90
7 Fred Kerley USA 9.86
8 Jimmy Vicaut FRA 9.86
9 Ferdinand Omurwa KEN 10.01
While Kenyans will be cheering on Omanyala, his exploits will not be the first of a kind since Kenya took part at the Summer Olympics in 1956.
Seraphino Antao made the semi-final in 100m, but did not advance to finals at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy, when he clocked 10.72.
Antao was from Mombasa and made history as the first Kenya to win a gold medal at an international level during the 1962 Commonwealth Games. He died on September 6, 2011.
Below is a list of other Kenyans to have participated at the Olympics in 100m.
1968 Mexico City, Mexico
Julius Sang 10.64sec
Charles Asati 10.63
1972 Munich, West Germany
Dan Amuke 10.76
John Mwebi 10.60
1988 Seoul, Rep of Korea
Peter Wekesa 10.50
Kennedy Ondiek 10.51
Quarterfinals
Peter Wekesa 10.43
Kennedy Ondiek 10.57
1992 Barcelona, Spain
Kennedy Ondieki 10.60
1996 Atlanta, USA
Donald Onchiri 10.66