Ferdinand Omanyala won the men's 100-meter event at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix with a time of 9.78 seconds.
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Ferdinand Omanyala, the gold medal winner from the 2022 Commonwealth Games, won the men’s 100-meter event at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix with a time of 9.78 seconds. Immediately following his victory, the World Athletics posted on its Facebook page that Omanyala had seized a commanding 100-meter world lead at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix.
However, World Athletics subsequently amended the Facebook post that said, “On another level. Ferdinand Omanyala storms to a windy 9.78 100m at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix 2023.” Additionally, the fact that Omanyala was missing from the podium where prizes were being given out added to the confusion.
Ferdinand Omanyala might have been disqualified for a lane violation, according to an Athletics Kenya official who was present at the World Athletics Continental Gold Tour competition. There were speculations that the Kenyan athlete had been disqualified as a result. Others claimed that after Omanyala’s disqualification, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana (9.91), Kenny Bednarek of the United States (10.02), and Aaron Brown of Canada (10.06) took the top three positions in order.
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Later, it was made clear that Ferdinand Omanyala‘s windy 100-meter victory at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix at the National Stadium in Gaborone would stand but would not be considered a world record effort, as mentioned by Botswana Golden Grand Prix Media Officer Calistus Kolantsho. He said that because the winning time of 9.78 seconds was wind-aided and came in at +2.3 m/s, it would not be recognized as a world record. He further added that neither the timers nor anyone else encountered the lane violation.
Ferdinand Omanyala attempted to catch a glimpse of local competitor Letsile Tebogo, who came in second with a time of 9.91, as he stepped into the lane to his right. Omanyala, who is also the Commonwealth Games champion, got off quickly and maintained a lead throughout the competition to win it. The technical rule on lane infringement states that if an athlete rushes into the lane on their inside or leaps on the lane line on their left, they will be disqualified for cutting the race short.
No action will be taken if a competitor goes into the inside lane or crosses the lane line in the straight unless they obstruct another competitor since they haven’t changed the distance that needs to be covered in the race. If there is no interference with the athlete running in that lane, running onto the outer lane on the right of the athlete should not be penalized.
In 2022, Ferdinand Omanyala excelled in international events, winning the 100 m at the African Championships and the Commonwealth Games. He gave Kenya its first 100-meter gold medal in 60 years at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. On September 18, 2021, in Nairobi, Omanyala set the African record and is currently ranked as the ninth-fastest man ever. Additionally, in the 100-meter semifinal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, he established a new national record of 10.00 seconds but couldn’t reach the finals.
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