Fred Kerley from the United States arrived in the country ahead of the Kip Keino Classic scheduled for Saturday at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani.
Kerley, who is the Tokyo Olympics 100m silver medalist, is upbeat with the lineup of the 100m men’s race with Olympic Champion Marcell Jacobs and Africa Champion Ferdinand Omanyala all set to outmuscle each other for the fastest man title.
Eight more athletes are set to face off having run under 10 seconds what with two of them running sub 10 seconds this season.
Homeboy Omanyala is the fastest in the field with 9.77 seconds followed by Jacobs (9.80) and Kerley (9.84).
Omanyala set a new Africa 100m record when he finished second in 9.77 behind the winner Trayvon Bromell from United States, who won in 9.76.
Olympic champion Jacobs had earlier confirmed his participation to face the Africa record holder Omanyala in the forthcoming Kip Keino Classic a leg of the World Athletics Diamond Tour.
This will be the second time Omanyala will be facing Jacobs after the World Athletics Indoor Tour leg of the Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais on February 17 this year in Levin, France.
Omanyala settled for the fourth position as Jacobs won the 60m race in 6.50 seconds.
Jacobs welcomed his maiden trip to Kenya on his social media forums. “World tour is starting, let’s go! My 100 meters debut in Nairobi, Kenya,” said the 27-year-old Jacobs.
However, Jacobs has not competed since winning the world indoor 60m title in a European record time of 6.41 seconds in Serbia on March 19, this year.
Jacobs upset the odds to scorch to victory in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Stadium, winning in a new European record of 9.80 seconds.
Besides Omanyala, Jacobs and Kerley, the men’s race has attracted Americans Mike Rogers, who won the gold medal in the 100m relay in Doha 2019 World Athletics Championships and Isaiah Young.
South Africans Gift Leotlela, the 4x100m gold medallist from the 2021 World Relay Championships and 2021 World Athletics Under-20 Championships 200m bronze medallist Sinesipho Dambile are also expected to showcase their talent.
According to the organiser, the women’s 100m has two-time Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce from Jamaican, Tokyo Olympic 200m silver medallist Christine Mboma of Namibia and American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.