Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala Sunday shattered his own National Record in the Tokyo Olympic Games 100 metres semi-finals.
Omanyala set a new personal best and national record of 10.00 seconds after placing third in Heat 1 of the semi-finals.
His impressive time was however not enough to book him a place in the final.
The top three athletes from each of the three heats qualify for the final as well as two athletes with the fastest times.
The two non-automatic qualifiers, South African Akani Simbine (9.90) and Italian Lamont Jacobs (9.84), came from Heat 3 that was won by Chinese Su Bingtan in a new personal best and Asian record of 9.83 seconds.
Omanyala had on Saturday set a new record of 10.01 seconds after finishing third in Heat 5 to qualify for the semi-finals.
Heat 1 of the semi-finals was tense from the onset after Reece Prescod was shown red for a false start.
And when the race finally got underway it’s American Fred Kerley who won in 9.96 seconds with Canadian Andre de Grasse setting for second in 9.98 seconds.
Omanyala and USA’s Trayvon Bromell, both on 10.00 seconds, looked set to clinch the two slots for non-automatic qualifiers but the fast Heat 3 ruled them out.
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