Africa's fastest man, Omanyala carries Kenya's hopes for a first Olympic gold in the 100 meters

Ferdinand Omanyala’s status as Africa’s fastest man has many people believing Kenya’s push for Olympic gold medals isn’t entirely a long-distance objective.

The Commonwealth Games 100-meter champion doesn’t want to get ahead of himself, though, despite posting the second-fastest time this season of 9.79 seconds to qualify for Paris at the national Olympic trials.

“I won’t say I am thinking of the final,” Omanyala said. “Of course it’s at the back of my mind but the Olympics has heats, semis and the final so you can’t start thinking about the final when you are not there yet — so many things happen.”

Among the sprinters from African countries who have qualified for the 100 in Paris, including Botswana’s world championship silver medalist Letsile Tebogo and South Africa’s Akani Simbine, Omanyala has run the fastest times.

His comeback from a doping ban imposed in 2017 to becoming the 9th-fastest man of all time has inspired Kenyans and has drawn more crowds to stadiums during national competitions.

His 9.77 personal best, a continental record set in September 2021 in Nairobi, united a nation in celebration and some Kenyans honored him by naming new born babies after him.

His name and image have been emblazoned on some of the graffiti-covered private minibuses, known as matatus, that serve as the main source of public transportation.

So there's a lot of expectations for Omanyala to be the first man from an African nation to win the Olympic 100-meter title.

The ex-rugby winger has had to reject assertions from critics that he loses his nerve in major global events, owing to his failure to reach the final at the Tokyo Olympics or the podium at last year's world titles.

Omanyala had been touted by the American sprint legend Michael Johnson as a potential 100-meter champion at last year's World Championships in Budapest, Hungary but placed seventh in the final. He attributed that to inexperience in dealing with flight fatigue.

He has visibly lost size from his bulging musculature and attributes the changes to his strategy for this Olympics, where he’s aiming to maintain strength but carry a lighter frame in a bid to run faster and also recover quicker between races.

Omanyala is an example of Kenya’s ambitions for success beyond distance running and among the most prominent athletes affected by a doping crisis in a country where more than 200 athletes have been banned over the last seven years.

Kenya has achieved great success in modern distance running, but a wave of positive drug tests has made it one of the sport’s latest doping pariahs.

Omanyala received a 14-month suspension after testing positive for the prohibited substance betamethasone, a ban which could have cost him any chance of representing Kenya again.

He maintains his case was a result of pain medication he received for a back injury and wasn't intentional doping.

“There are those who do it intentionally," Omanyala concedes of the doping problem, but he adds: "There are those who eat (contaminated) meat and they end up testing positive; there are those who walk into chemists or medication places and they are given medication that have steroids in them — (those) people you cannot put in the same bracket.

“Don’t judge when you first hear an athlete has tested positive for banned substances, try to hear the story."

Athletes who are using performance enhancement drugs intentionally are making it difficult for the rest, he said, because any time a Kenyan athlete is running well there will be suspicion that they maybe on performance enhancers.

Barnaba Korir, an Athletics Kenya official, says authorities have ramped up education programs for young athletes across the country to help them understand the implications of doping and avoid it.

Poverty and unemployment are the main factors driving some athletes to use banned substances because they're trying to pull themselves and their families out of penury, Korir says, and will do so at all costs.

The concentration of talent also means that while some countries can focus testing on a small elite groups, Kenya has hundreds of distance runners capable of competing internationally from middle distance to the marathon.

The scope of events is broadening.

Kenyan sports authorities are hopeful that the inclusion of Omanyala and Alexandra Ndolo — Kenya’s first representative in Olympic fencing — will increase the medal hauls that have traditionally depended on middle- and long-distance runners.

“This is one of the best teams we have ever assembled for the Olympics" Korir said of a Kenya contingent containing 42 track and field athletes, two swimmers, one fencer, one judoka, as well as volleyball and rugby sevens teams.

With a total medal haul of 113 medals, including 35 gold, since first participating at the Summer Games in 1956, Kenya is the continent’s most successful at Olympics.

Omanyala says he wants to leave a legacy in which Kenya produces a world-class sprinter more frequently.

“For the long distance races, we have an industry in this country," he said, "so that is what I want to do with sprints.”

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

FILE - Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya, competes in the Kenya track and field Paris 2024 Olympics trials, at the Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi, Kenya Friday, Jun. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

FILE - Ferdinand Omanyala, of Kenya, starts in his men's 60 meters heat during the World Athletics Indoor Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, Friday, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

Trizah Atuka and Ferdinand Omanyala, flag bearers for Kenya, are seen on the team's boat as it makes its way along the Seine in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Michael Reaves/Pool Photo via AP)

Ferdinand Omanyala undergoes a training session in preparation for the 2024 Summer Olympics at Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Ferdinand Omanyala undergoes a training session in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympics at Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

FILE - Ferdinand Omanyala, of Kenya, competes in a men's 60 meters heat during the World Athletics Indoor Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, Friday, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Ja’Quinden Jackson ran for 147 yards and a touchdown and Taylen Green picked up 96 yards on the ground with two scores as Arkansas beat Alabama-Birmingham 37-27 on Saturday.

Jackson’s score, a 16-yard dash early in the third quarter, broke a 20-all tie to give Arkansas (2-1) its first lead. UAB had little answer for him whenever he ran the ball as his yardage total came on just 15 carries.

Green, Arkansas’ starting quarterback, countered his sub-par throwing day with his rushing results. He tied the game at 17 in the third quarter on a 14-yard touchdown and provided a 9-yard insurance touchdown with 3:38 left after Arkansas had taken a three-point lead. In the air, he was just 11 of 26 for 161 yards with an interception.

The Blazers (1-2) led 17-3 early in the second quarter, having scored on their first three drives. The second drive needed to go only 15 yards after Green was intercepted in his own red zone. Jared Zeno, who threw three touchdown passes for UAB, found Kam Shanks for a 15-yard score to put Arkansas down by a touchdown before Zeno connected with Amare Thomas for a 34-yard score on the next drive to make it a two-score game.

Arkansas scored five of the next six times as Braylen Russell added a rushing touchdown and Kyle Ramsey made two field goals to provide the Razorbacks with a 30-20 lead in the fourth quarter. Zeno found Dallas Payne for his third touchdown of the game midway through the fourth before Green led the 7-play, 75-yard drive that ultimately proved the game-changer.

Jackson, a Utah transfer, became the first Arkansas player with 100-yard games in each of his first three in a Razorbacks uniform since Alex Collins in 2015. Collins, Arkansas’ second-leading rusher in school history, died last year in a motorcycle wreck. He was honored during the game along with other members of the 2024 Arkansas Hall of Honor.

UAB is likely neither as bad as the team that lost to Louisiana-Monroe in Week 2 by 26 points nor as good as the team that lost to Arkansas by 10 on Saturday. The Blazers’ ride in the AAC could be just as chaotic.

Arkansas wasn’t especially impressive, but after last year’s 4-8 season and last week’s double-overtime loss to Oklahoma State, putting a team away in a close game is a large step forward.

UAB hosts Navy in AAC play on Saturday.

Arkansas travels to Auburn to open the SEC schedule on Saturday.

UAB wide receiver Kam Shanks (8) slips past Arkansas defensive back TJ Metcalf (18) to score a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)