Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala continued his sub-10 season streak, winning the Xiamen Diamond League 100m with a season-best 9.94 on Saturday, May 23.
The African fastest man recorded his fifth sub-10 performance of the season and successfully avenged his previous defeat to South African rival Gift Leotlela, who settled for second place this time in 10.00.
Leotlela’s time fell just shy of his race-winning 9.97 performance in their previous outing. Team USA’s two-time world medallist Trayvon Bromell finished third in 10.03 in the People’s Republic of China.
READ MORE: Africa’s fastest man Omanyala storms to gold with sub-10 finish at Kip Keino Classic 2026
Ferdinand Omanyala wins Xiamen Diamond League
Meanwhile, Kenny Bednarek finished just outside the podium spots, crossing the line in 10.03 seconds, with Akani Simbine coming in fifth (10.04). Christian Coleman and Letsile Tebogo had to settle for seventh and eighth with respective times of 10.08 and 10.10.
Omanyala stated he felt fantastic racing on Saturday and expressed the joy he had when he started celebrating even before the race was over.
“It was so fun. I got a good start, a good transition into the top-end speed, and I feel nice. A lot of very good runners in that race, I’m just excited. I mean, it’s my second Diamond League win ever, so I have to be excited, and this trip has been very fruitful. It was just nice to see,” Omanyala said.
He added that his aim is to defend the Commonwealth title and win the championships.
“That’s what we need to bring back to the sport. I’m looking forward to more wins in the future. We’ve had great training sessions, and we’re keeping it going because we had a strong preseason. Indoor season wasn’t great for us, but I’m happy with where we are now. I’m aiming to defend the Commonwealth Games title and later compete strongly at the World Championships,” he added.
The reigning Commonwealth Games champion has been in strong form this outdoor season, clocking four sub-10-second runs ahead of his meeting in Xiamen.
He began his year indoors at the Meeting de Paris Indoor, Elite Indoor Track Miramas Meeting, and Russian Winter Games before shifting outdoors at the Lefika International Relays in Botswana.
He then opened his 100m campaign at the Cape Miller Continental Tour, winning in 10.19 seconds.
At the Addis Ababa Grand Prix, Omanyala improved his season’s mark, winning in 9.98 seconds, before lowering it to 9.96 seconds at home at the Kip Keino Classic.
He followed that with a 9.95-second run at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix.
He later featured for Team Kenya at the World Athletics Relays, where the men’s 4x100m team missed out on qualification for the 2027 World Championships in Beijing but set a national record of 38.27 seconds.
Most recently, at the Diamond League Meeting in Shanghai, he finished second in 9.98 seconds, narrowly behind Gift Leotlela, who won in 9.97 seconds. Now he has set the season’s best at 9.94.