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On the back of the second-fastest 100m time this year - 9.84secs in the 2023 Kip Keino Classic - Omanyala is now targeting a first 100m gold at the World Championships.
Commonwealth Games champion Ferdinand Omanyala has revealed he is “not intimidated” ahead of the Budapest World Athletics Championships set to kick off on August 19.
Omala has revealed he will use the tournament to “intimidate his fellow athletes” in the race to secure his maiden World Athletics victory later this month.
Omanyala, 27, claimed the victory in Monaco ahead of Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, the junior 100m world record holder, with Jamaicans Ackeem Blake and Yohan Blake third and fourth respectively.
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20:59 - 17.08.2023
ATHLETICS Where could the medals come from for Africa in Budapest
Of the 28 medals awarded to Africa, five nations stood out with at least one gold medal, with Uganda, Morocco, and Nigeria joining the aforementioned East African powerhouses.
"The 100 meters is most popular because of its hype - I consider it like a boxing match," he told BBC Sport Africa.
"In a boxing match, there's a lot of hype around it, there's a lot of media and (the 100m race) is like nine seconds of aggression.
"The concentration of a human being is 45 seconds. So for nine seconds, you understand that people pay a lot of attention, and it's most interesting.
"For 100m athletes, I can say they're very hyper - hyperactive - so that's why we make the sport interesting."
Omanyala is Africa’s fastest man, running at an insane speed of 9.77 seconds at the KipKeino classics held at Kasarani in 2021.
On the back of the second-fastest 100m time this year - 9.84secs in the 2023 Kip Keino Classic - Omanyala is now targeting a first 100m podium finish at the World Championships.
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08:26 - 13.08.2023
ATHLETICS Sure medals to be won by Kenyans at the World Championships
In this article, Pulse Sports analyses the disciplines in which athletes from Kenya are likely to win medals.
“I am not intimidated. I am the one intimidating them,” The 26-year-old lamented.
If Omanyala secures a podium finish at this year’s championships, he will become the first ever African to achieve that fate in the championship’s history.
"Africa has never medalled in this race and that's something I want to break. I want to change that, so I want to win a medal - I want to win the gold,"
"Going in as one of the top sprinters, people are looking at and counting on you - people are counting you in that medal bracket.
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07:10 - 01.08.2023
ATHLETICS Marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge shares words of wisdom for success
The maestro of miles is aiming to make history at the Berlin Marathon 2023.
"I'm going for nothing less than a gold."
The expectation is high for the first Kenyan to take a 100m Diamond League event, with only 400m runner Nicholas Bett having ever won a men's Diamond League race for the country before.
"There's always a lot of hype around it, people making predictions here and there, and people posting different types of opinions.
"That's always what brings the tension but the moment you step into the call room and then into the field, it's always a different story - because there's no turning back, you're alone in this.
"The moment I get in the field, see the crowd and how the field looks and understand that this now is the reality of it, all my tension always just disappears.
"Then when you go on the blocks and onto marks, it's either you make history here or you get defeated, and then people will talk either way.
The World Athletics Championships, which Hungary is hosting the first time, end on Sunday 27 August.
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15:12 - 17.08.2023
ATHLETICS Usain Bolt's historic title, top world records under threat
Records are expected to fall in Budapest as elite athletes take on the opportunity to write history.
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