MIRAMAS, France, Jul 19 – The men’s 100 meters at the 2024 Olympics promises to be a scintillating adventure of speed and resilience, with a blend of seasoned champions and emerging stars.
Each contender brings unique strengths to the competition, making the race highly unpredictable with 11 days left before the start of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.
Granted, the 100m race appears not to have any favorites even with a strong American presence of world champion Noah Lyles, Olympic silver medalist Fred Kerley and 200m Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Kenny Bednarek, Jamaicans led by world leader Kishane Thompson and the African trio of Ferdinand Omanyala, South African Akani Simbine and Letsile Tebogo from Botswana, also in the mix.
Speaking to Capital Sport from Miramas, France, Africa’s fastest man Omanyala is unfazed by the projected cutthroat competition in the upcoming Games.
“My management decided to reduce the races I will compete in before the Olympics. We would still be racing by now but they decided we needed to focus for three weeks before the Games which is working really well here in Miramas, so I’m more hungry going into the Olympics,” Omanyala emphasized.
Omanyala was responding to this weekend’s last Diamond League race before the Olympics, to be held in London where big wigs in the 100m; Lyles, Great Britain’s duo of Hughes Zharnel and Jeremiah Azu, Jamaicans Ackeem Blake and Yohan Blake and Tebogo will compete.
Omanyala (9.77), the ninth fastest man of all time after world record holder Usain Bolt (9.58), Tyson Gay/Yohan Blake (9.69), Asafa Powell (9.72), Justin Gatlin (9.74) and Christian Coleman/Trayvon Bromell/Fred Kerley (9.76), candidly admitts that his race adversaries have been fast lately.
“People are running fast. I’m the second fastest in the world this season (after Kishane Thompson) but when you get to the Olympic Stadium in Paris on August 3, none of that will matter. What really matters is how you get there… healthy both mentally and physically, all these times that have been done are going to be null and void when you step into that arena,” Omanyala elaborated.
The men’s 100 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics is scheduled to be held in four rounds at the Stade de France in Paris, France, on August 3 and 4.
This will be the 30th time that the men’s 100 metres is contested at the Summer Olympics.
— Low Attitude Training—
Omanyala is intensifying his sessions under the watchful eyes of his coach Geoffrey Kimani in the pre-Olympics camp in Miramas brimming with confidence. He is happy with his progress so far in a low attitude.
“When you train in this kind of environment is a plus because most of the races happen in low altitude, so you get to adapt to this other than training in a higher altitude where there is less oxygen, which you don’t really use when it comes to 100m.”
Commenting on the current hot weather in Miramas, Omayala continued: “We love hot weather, that’s standard, since we have a lot of muscles in our bodies, we need them stretched and they can obviously do in hot weather, just like a bladder when you put it in hot water, it’s stretches more than in cold water.”
“Coming into Miramas, it’s been nice and we’ve been doing a lot of intensity work and less volume. I’m happy with the progress and my body is responding well,” the Commonwealth Games champion underscored.
Omanyala was eliminated in the semifinals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics belatedly held in 2021, but his career has grown to strength since then.
In 2022, he won his first international championships, with victories in the 100m at the Commonwealth Games, and African Championships in Athletics.
He concluded: “In the last Olympics, I had not competed with the big boys and not done any Diamond League and Continental Tours, so it was a hard fruit to pick, but now we are getting there… having competed with the cream of the world’s best. I’m not going to be amazed or intimidated with what I’m going to see in the Olympics village. I have been to Paris almost nine times, so nothing is going to scare me.”
-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Miramas, France-
