Ferdinand Omanyala will battle his main African rival Akani Simbine at the 2025 Botswana Grand Prix in Botswana. The Kenyan is among the fastest men in 2025. Ferdinand Omanyala is planning for a big year after falling short in 2024. Who Ferdinand Omanyala is facing in Botswana Ferdinand Omanyala will line up in his third race of the season alongside Akani Simbine, Karabo Letebele, Benjamin Richardson and other stars. Omanyala was stunned by Karabo Letebele in the first ASA Grand Prix in South Africa last month. He bounced back in the second part of the series with a win in 10.08 seconds, per SuperSport.
He can rubber-stamp his status as Africa’s best srpinter against Simbine, who recently bagged a bronze medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing. The Kenyan has fallen short in the last few years, especially in major events like the Olympics but promised to enjoy athletics ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. “This season, we just want to enjoy athletics. I mean, at some point I was losing it, I was swayed by other things and I lost focus along the way in terms of what am I doing in this track, so this year, I want to enjoy track, we want to appreciate every moment that we step on that track,” The Kenyan told SuperSport TV after winning his first race of 2025. Who are the fastest men in 2025? South Africa’s Bayanda Walaza is the fastest man in the world in 2025 with a time of 9.99 seconds set in Pretoria, in March. Australian Lachlan Kennedy is second with 10.00 seconds recorded earlier this month in Perth, Australia.
Ferdinand Omanyala failed to reach the final of the men’s 100m at the Paris Olympics. Photo by Hannah Peters. Source: Getty Images Carlos Brown Jr is third with 10.04 seconds, Ackeem Blake with 10.06 seconds, and Gary Card rounding the top five with 10.06 seconds. Grand Slam Track champion Kenneth Bednarek is seventh with 10.07 seconds while Omanyala is 10.08 seconds set on March 19, per World Athletics. Omanyala will need to be on top form against Simbine, who finished fourth in the 100m at the Paris Olympics before anchoring South Africa to silver in the men’s 4x100m relay. The 29-year-old will also want to avoid another defeat to Letebele, who was only born in 2006. He holds the African record of 9.77 seconds set in 2021 while Simbine is second with a time of 9.82 seconds set in 2024 at the Olympics.
Omanyala and Simbine have faced each other eight times. The Kenyan star has come on top seven times in those meetings. Letebele popularity surges TUKO.co.ke earlier reported that Karabo Letebele’s popularity in South Africa went up after he defeated Omanyala. Letebele stunned the Kenyan sprinter at the Athletics South Africa Grand Prix 1 and will be aiming to take him down again.
by Edwin Kiplagat
