African record holder 'The Beast' Omanyala beats Akani Simbine in 100m in Germiston

Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand “The Beast” Omanyala defeated South Africa’s two-time Olympic finalist Akani Simbine in the 100m final in Germiston on Wednesday night.

In the highlight of the fourth Grand Prix meet of the season, the African record holder clocked 9.98 seconds to beat Simbine pretty comfortably in the end. Bradley Nkoana finished third in 10.32.

The Kenyan set tongues wagging last September when he overhauled Simbine’s continental record, which at the time was 9.84, with a 9.77 time in Nairobi barely two months after the South African did it.

The 26-year-old Kenyan played rugby in high school and trained with the Kenyan Sevens team in their preparations for the Tokyo Olympics last year but decided to go the athletics route - a decision that’s paying off handsomely.

Earlier, Clarence Munyai (20.33) dominated the field in the men’s 200m, leaving Botswana veteran Isaac Makwala in the dust, who finished fourth (20.89).

Carina Horn, who was banned for two years for doping, won her second 100m race of the Grand Prix series when she blew out the field with a time of 11.43 seconds.