Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala wants to break the 60 metres Miramas Métropole Indoor record on his first attempt over the distance in the World Athletics Indoor Tour bronze label race in France on Friday 9pm.
Omanyala, 26, revealed his ambitious target of running the distance in less than 6.50 seconds during a press conference held at the race venue on Wednesday.
“I’m very excited at the idea of running indoors and I want to enjoy the event. I want to break the record and make it last over time. I like this stadium. I trained yesterday (Wednesday) and I really enjoyed the track,” said Omanyala who ran an African record in 100m of 9.77 seconds during the Kip Keino Classic in September 2021 which made him the eighth fastest runner in the world over that distance.
Newszetu sought clarity from Omanyala whether, in Marimas, he was targeting the World indoor record for 60m of 6.34 held by American Christian Coleman since February 18, 2018. “I’m always ready for the race. I want to break the stadium record of 6.68,” he said on Thursday.
Fastest Iranian man Hassan Taftian holds the Miramas record of 6.68 he set in January 2021 at the 7,500-seater stadium.
Bahamian Terrence Jones has run the fastest time in 60m indoors this year, registering 6.45 in Lubbock, USA on January 15, 2022.
Coleman has done 6.49, sandwiched between fellow Americans Micah Williams and Trayvon Bromell who have run 6.48 and 6.50 in the USA respectively.
Omanyala finished second to Bromell during the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on his way to breaking South Africa’s Akani Simbine’s African 100m record of 9.84 seconds.
Some of the names that Omanyala will battle with for Miramas honours are Taftian from Iran whose personal best is 6.51 from Tehran Asian Indoor Championships in February 2018 and Frenchmen Marvin René (6.52) and Viktor Contaret (6.70).
Omanyala will also compete at the Mondeville Meeting on February 9 and the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Paris on February 17.
He said he is doing 60m to improve speed and his first 50 metres, with an eye on the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia slated for March 18-20 and the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022 in Eugene, USA from July 15-24, among other races.
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