United States 100m Olympic silver medalist, Fred Kerley will take on African record holder Ferdinand Omanyala during the third edition of Kip Keino Classic set for May 7 at the Kasarani Stadium.
Kerley, who last year became the first athlete to win the 100m and 400m series at the Diamond League, will be making a return to Nairobi having won the 200 m event during the 2021 edition.
In the same breath, Kenya’s fastest woman in 100m Maximilla Imali, will brush shoulders with eight-time Olympic medallist and 10-time world champion, Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Olympic 200m silver medallist Christine Mboma and sensational American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson in women’s 100 m.
The announcement was made on Friday by Athletics Kenya (AK) President Jackson Tuwei during the official media launch where Absa Kenya gave Sh23 million to boost the event.
Tuwei further said he was hopeful that Kenya will be awarded the rights to host a leg of the prestigious Diamond League series from next year.
“We are attracting the very top athletes in the world. Besides Kerley who was here last year, we shall be having another Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek from the United States coming to compete in 100 m,” said Tuwei.
Presently, Rabat in Morocco is the only African city that stages a Diamond League meeting after it was awarded the rights in 2016.
Tuwei further said Kenya has a high chance of successfully bidding to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships.
Omanyala is the Africa 100m record holder at 9.77 seconds while Kerley and Bednarek are the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games silver medalists in 100 m and 200m, respectively.
Both Omanyala and Kerley will be making a return to the Kip Keino Classic, having set their personal bests in last year’s second edition.
Africa’s finest finished second in men’s 100m in 9.77, losing the battle to American Trayvon Bromell, who clocked 9.76.
The times ranked them the sixth and seventh fastest, respectively in the men’s 100m history.
