'I don’t want to jump ship' - Ferdinand Omanyala on approaching 2025 season differently

Ferdinand Omanyala has revealed what he will be doing different in 2025.

Ferdinand Omanyala is taking a different approach to the 2025 season with his main focus being on the events right ahead of him other than focusing on the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

The Commonwealth Games champion explained that he resumed training this week and hopes to have a great build up to his first race of the season but disclosed that right now, it’s all about getting into the right shape.

The Kenyan sprinting sensation revealed that he might skip the indoor races but Diamond League Meetings and continental tour events are still in his plans.

“I haven’t planned anything to be honest because this is my first week in training and we are just getting the cobwebs out from the long off-season and the long rest that we have had,” Ferdinand Omanyala said.

“Of course, the eyes are there to the championships but before the championships, there are so many things happening, there are the Diamond Leagues, continental tour gold and the world indoor championships, so, I don’t want to jump ship, I don’t want to start thinking about it because it’s in September and we have like a year to go,” he added.

In 2024, Ferdinand Omanyala recorded mixed performances, winning some races while losing some. He finished the season as the second fastest man in the world after winning the Kenyan Olympic trials in a time of 9.79 seconds.

Kishane Thompson was the fastest man this season with his 9.77 seconds that he ran to win the Jamaican Olympic trials.

When it mattered the most, Ferdinand Omanyala failed to show up fully but in a previous interview, he noted that he took the lessons and going forward, he will be implementing what he learnt.

In the interview, Ferdinand Omanyala went down memory lane to the 2022 Commonwealth Games where he asserted his presence as a world class sprinter.

After missing out on a slot in the final of the men’s 100m at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon due to a visa hitch, Omanyala bounced back to a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Omanyala is eager to defend his title and promised that of all goes well, he will be at the starting line of the 2026 edition of the event. However, that is not his main priority at the moment.

“The Commonwealth Games were a blessing in disguise because that was the time we had visa issues and two weeks later, I was running the Commonwealth Games. I’m glad that it’s been brought back and I’m hoping to be in good health so I can go defend my title,” he said.