Kenya’s Collins Kipruto broke the meeting record to win the men’s 800m as Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala finished second in men’s 60m at the Meeting de l’Eure in Val-de-Reuil, France on Monday.
Kipruto held off compatriot 17-year-old World Under-20 800m bronze medallist Noah Kibet and Morocco’s Mostafa Smaili to triumph in 1:47.05.
Both Kibet and Smaili ran 1:47.27, but it’s Kibet who got the nod for the runner-up spot. Another Kenyan Cornelius Tuwei settled fifth in 1:48.38.
Uganda’s Halimah Nakaayi won the women’s 800m race in a world-leading national indoor record time of 1:59.55.
Omanyala lost to 2010 World Indoor silver medallist, American Michael Rodgers in a thrilling photo-finish with both athletes clocking 6.64 seconds.
Interestingly, Omanyala, the national 60m record holder, had won his semi-final heat in 6.66, stunning Rogers to second place in 6.68 at the World Indoor Silver Tour event.
Omanyala had on Saturday broken the national record in 60m Indoor once again when he rallied from behind to clock 6.60.seconds to win at Meeting Metz Monselle Athlelor, another World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver event in Metz, France.
The result saw Omanyala better his previous national record set nine days ago at Miramas Indoor Meeting in France by 0.03 seconds.
Omanyala had cruised to victory in 6.63 at Miramas in the final moments after making his debut over the distance in the semi-finals with victory in 6.65.
Omanyala, who is the Africa record holder in 100m (outdoor) in a time of 9.77 seconds, beat Paulvince Obuon’s previous national record time of 6.70 seconds set on January 28, 2005 at State College, United States.
“It’s been a great experience, this being my first outing indoors,” said Omanyala, adding that breaking the national record twice gives him great pleasure.
“It completely feels different from the indoors.”
Omanyala said he took a stab at the World Indoor Tour to have fun and refine his speed and off the blocks performance.
“I now feel ripe for the World Indoor Championship, but I still need to go back to the drawing board and which areas need fixing,” said Omanyala.
Omanyala is among athletes that Athletics Kenya have earmarked for selection for the World Indoor Championships due March 18-20 in Belgrade, Serbia.
Upcoming Edinah Jebitok finished sixth in 8:45.46 while her compatriot Selah Jepleting ninth in 8:52.40 in the women’s 3,000m race won by World Under-20 800m champion Ayal Dagnachew from Ethiopia.
Dagnachew clocked 8:41.32 to win, beating Italian Nadia Battocletti and compatriot Workua Getachew to second and third places in 8:41.72 and 8:41.95 respectively.
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