Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, is set for a hefty payday after continuing his brilliant season resurgence with a spectacular victory at the Xiamen Diamond League on Saturday.
Storming the track at the Egret Stadium, the Kenyan sprint sensation proved too hot to handle for a star-studded field, clocking a blistering 9.94 seconds to secure the top spot and register yet another sub-10-second performance.
The triumph was sweet revenge for the African record holder, who successfully avenged his narrow defeat to South Africa’s Gift Leotlela during the Diamond League opening leg in Shanghai, where Omanyala finished second in 9.98 seconds.
Cashing In on the Track
By anchoring the race in first place, Omanyala will pocket a cool $20,000 (approximately KSh 2.5 million)—the standard prize money designated for discipline winners during the regular circuit meetings.
Under the official Diamond League prize structure, each of the 14 regular meetings features a total prize purse of $500,000 (around KSh 64 million). However, organizers can elevate specific events to “Diamond+ Disciplines,” which attract these higher individual payouts.
Behind the Kenyan star, South Africa’s Leotlela settled for second place in 10.00 seconds, taking home $6,000 (KSh 778,000), while American heavyweight Trayvon Bromell walked away with $4,000 (KSh 518,000) after finishing third in 10.03 seconds.
The Road to the Grand Prize
While Omanyala’s KSh 2.5 million windfall is a substantial reward for a single night’s work, it represents only a fraction of the total earnings available in the elite track-and-field series.
The $20,000 payout serves as a reward for individual series meetings to incentivize athletes throughout the season. The real jackpot awaits at the Diamond League Final—the season-ending championship where the year’s top point-earners face off. A victory in a Diamond+ discipline at the finals elevates the winner’s prize money to a lucrative $30,000 (approximately KSh 3.9 million).
Five in a Row
Financial rewards aside, the victory firmly cements Omanyala’s return to the absolute peak of global sprinting.
The Xiamen masterclass marks his fifth consecutive sub-10-second race this season. It is a remarkable turnaround for the Commonwealth champion, who had previously endured a challenging nearly two-year drought without dipping under the elusive 10-second barrier. With his confidence fully restored and his form peaking, Omanyala is once again asserting his dominance on the world stage.