Ferdinand Omanyala kicked off his season in Thika, an unusual starting but with a deeper meaning.

The Kenyan sprinter is aiming for a much better season after a frustrating 2024, where he failed to reach the final at the Paris Olympics.

Omanyala, Africa's fastest man, kicked off his season in Thika, competing in his favourite race, the 100m. The event was part of the Athletics Kenya Track and Field circuit.

The Commonwealth champion clocked just over 10 seconds in the heats and the semi-final respectively. Omanyala ran on a murram track, which he said was to celebrate his beginnings.

“Coming to compete here wasn’t because of any competition or any targets - to see where my body is. I just came here to tell other athletes that we are together. We all start from somewhere," he said via Mozzart Sports.

The African record holder started his running career on a murram track in Mumias years ago.

"It was like connecting with my past because I’ve always wanted to come and see how it feels 10 years later...You know it’s murram and when the wind blows it pushes the debris around. It’s not the best, but we all start from somewhere.”

The Kenyan star has skipped the indoor tour, but it is unclear if he will compete at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China later this month.

The 29-year-old had a mixed 2024 season. He finished fourth in the men's 60m at the indoor championships in Glasgow, thrived in the Diamond League but fell short at the Olympics.

He registered the second-fastest time (9.79 seconds) in 2024 and was expected to finally produce a top performance at the Olympics.

However, he fell short in the semis, finishing eighth in the third semi-final which had silver and bronze medallists Kishane Thompson and Fred Kerley.

This year, he's eyeing the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September. Omanyala failed to reach the final of the 2023 edition and is looking to right that wrong this season.

"I'll go down as the fastest sprinter Kenya has ever had," he told Olympics.com in May 2024. "Of course my records will be broken, but [I'll be] the person who came about and changed the notion that Kenyans are only known for long and middle distance. That is what I'm going down in books for."

earlier reported that Omanyala ended the 2024 season with a win in the Diamond League finals in Brussels, Belgium.

The Kenyan clocked 10.07 seconds to win the invitational. He didn't qualify for the final, which was won by Ackeem Blake.

Source: TUKO.co.ke