Ferdinand Omanyala has ended his season because of a foot injury that will force him to miss this week’s Diamond League final and the Ultimate Championship later this month.
In a message shared on social media on Tuesday, Omanyala said that he suffered a stress fracture on his left heel two weeks before the Commonwealth Games in July, knocking him out of two of the biggest events to close the year.
“Unfortunately, due to a stress fracture on the heel bone of my left foot, sustained two weeks before the Commonwealth Games, I won’t be able to compete in my final two races of the season,” Omanyala said. “Not quite the finish we had planned, but there is so much from this season, to celebrate and be grateful for.”
Omanyala was set to take on a stacked men’s 100m in Brussels on Friday that will include Oblique Seville, Gift Leotlela, Trayvon Bromell, Jordan Anthony, Kenny Bednarek, Emmanuel Eseme, Simon Verherstraeten and Kanyinsola Ajayi at the Diamond League final.
At the inaugural Ultimate Championships in Budapest just a week later, he likely would have been a factor in the men’s 100m semifinal and advanced to face a loaded group that will be headlined by Noah Lyles.
Omanyala roared back from a difficult season last year and roared through April in the men’s 100m with a 9.98 win at the Addis Ababa Grand Prix and 9.96 victory at the Kip Keino Classic.
He took second at the Diamond League opener in Shanghai in 9.98 on May 16 but stormed to his first win on the circuit in 9.94 a week later in Xiamen.
A string of sub-10 second performances during the season kept Omanyala in the mix even as he saw a range of results like an eighth-place finish in 10.11 on June 4 in Rome at the fourth Diamond League meeting as he took sixth in Paris in 10.02 on June 28.
But Omanyala coasted to a Kenyan 100m national title in 10.00 on June 20 and tallied enough Diamond League points to earn a spot in the season-closing final this week.
Even with the poorly-timed setback and injury, Omanyala was optimistic in his message as he now looks to rebound in and prepare for next year’s campaign.
“To my coach, my entire team, my sponsors and partners: Thank you for the work behind the scenes, the belief, the support and for continuing to walk this journey with me. None of these milestones happen alone,” he said.
