Africa 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala will aim to step up his form at this year’s second World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, in Gaborone on Saturday.
Omanyala has been in fine form this season, cruising to victory during Athletics South Africa (ASA) Grand Prix 1 where he clocked 10.12 a fortnight ago.
The Kenyan sprint king, who is also the African 100m champion, faces a stern test against Botswana's world under 20 100m record holder Letsile Tebogo, who will be backed by the home crowd in a competitive field that also has USA's treble NACAC medallist Kyree King.
Tebogo opened his 200m season with a 20.00 run in Florida earlier this month and could get closer to the 19.96 PB he ran when he was narrowly pipped to the world U20 200m title in Cali.
Kenya’s world 800m bronze medallist Mary Moraa, who also claimed Commonwealth and Diamond League crowns in 2022, drops down to race in the 400m against Jamaica’s Olympic and world finalist Candice McLeod, USA’s Kyra Jefferson and Botswana’s Naledi Lopang and Thompang Basele.
Global medallists will clash in the men’s 800m as Kenya’s Olympic silver medallist Ferguson Rotich races his compatriot Abel Kipsang, who claimed world indoor 1500m bronze last year, plus USA’s 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Clayton Murphy.
The Kenyan 4x100m relay team of Omanyala, Samuel Imeta, Hesbon Ochieng, Steve Onyango and Wiseman Were is also in Botswana as they seek to sharpen up for the World Championships in Budapest in August.
The Kenyan team is currently 18th on the world rankings, where the top 16 teams directly qualify for Budapest.
USA’s world 400m hurdles bronze medallist Trevor Bassitt, who has run a 45.25 PB for the 400m flat this month, contests his specialty against Ireland’s Thomas Barr and African champion Sokwakhana Zazini of South Africa.
Nigeria’s Brume and Great Britain’s Ugen claimed long jump silver and bronze, respectively, at last year’s World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. They clashed again in the world final in Oregon – where Brume secured silver – and in the Commonwealth Games final in Birmingham – won by Brume – and now they meet again.
USA’s ShaCarri Richardson races her first 200m of the season after storming to a wind-assisted 10.57 100m earlier this month. She lines up alongside The Gambia’s African 100m champion Gina Bass and USA’s Dezerea Bryant, Kiara Parker and Kayla White.
