Ferdinand Omanyala registered his worst result of the season after he finished ninth at the Keqiao Diamond League in Shanghai on May 3, 2025.

Omanyala came in last in a star-studded race won by Akani Simbine. Simbine continued his perfect start to the 2025 season, clocking an amazing 9.98 seconds to win his second successive Diamond League meet.

The South African, who also won in Xiamen last weekend, beat the silver medalist of Paris Olympics, Kishane Thompson, in a photo finish. Thompson crossed the line with a season's best of 9.99 seconds.

Reigning 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo also ran a season's best of 10.03 to complete the podium places. 2019 World Champion Christian Coleman endured another difficult outing, coming in sixth with 10.13.

However, the biggest surprise of the meet was Omanyala, who couldn't keep up with the pace of his rivals. The Commonwealth champion had finished second in Xiamen last week, and expectation was rife that he could put in another decent performance.

Omanyala still pocketed some amount of money thanks to the revamped structure of the Diamond League prize money.

A ninth-place finish in the 2025 season earns someone 500 USD (approximately KSh64,000), but Omanyala earned 750 USD (approximately KSh97,000) due to the Diamond + Discipline rule.

The Diamond League introduced the Diamond + Discipline rule, where every meet will give an extra amount of prize money to some selected events for their meets. The selected events are a maximum of four per event (two male, two female).

Shanghai Diamond League selected the men's 100m as one of their events in this category, which means the participants were entitled to more money. Ordinarily, Omanyala should have earned 500 USD, but his pay was bumped upwards due to the Diamond + Discipline rule.

Simbine raked in an amazing 20,000 USD for winning the race. If the race wasn't listed in the Diamond + Discipline, the world indoor bronze medalist would have earned 10,000 USD.

"Another win. I’m not happy with the race, but taking the win is good. I’m not happy with the start, it is just frustrating that I did not get it right today, but I was at least able to make up for that mistake and get the win," said Simbine after the race via the Diamond League.

The South African also revealed his upcoming plans as he hopes to build on a beautiful start to the 2025 season.

I have World Relays and then Atlanta the following week, and then on to the Diamond League in Morocco. It is a busy May, but I’m looking forward to working on what I need to work on to get better."

Thompson took home 10,000 USD instead of 6,000 USD, while Tebogo was 6,000 USD richer thanks to his third-placed finish.

Omanyala will need to regroup quickly as he will lead Team Kenya's charge at the World Relay Championships in Guangzhou, China, from May 10.

Afterwards, he will return to Atlanta in the United States on May 17 before going to Morocco for the Rabat Diamond League on May 25.

The 29-year-old will then headline the Kip Keino Classic on home soil at the end of this month.

In a separate report, explained how much Omanyala earned in Xiamen, where he finished second behind Simbine.

It was another decent outing then for Omanyala, who didn't dip below 10 seconds but did just enough to be on the podium.

It was the same meet where Faith Kipyegon opened her 2025 season with a devastating pace in the women's 1000m.

Source: TUKO.co.ke