Three stars at Kip Keino Classic who changed course mid-career and succeeded

You know Omanyala as Africa’s fastest man and as the 2021 Commonwealth Games 100m champion, but the sprinter started as a volleyball player at primary school, then switched to rugby upon joining Friends School Kamusinga in Bungoma County before taking up athletics later.

After joining the University of Nairobi to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry, Omanyala joined the university’s rugby team, Mean Machine, to play in the Kenya Cup.

In 2015, he was invited for trials with the Kenya Under-20 rugby team, but he discovered his talent in athletics, and the rest is history.

Does he plan to go back to rugby?

“I miss rugby…I was planning to play rugby until athletics dragged me away from it. I want to go back and play it in the last years of my career. I still have like 11 years in this sport, and then I will call it a day.

I would love to go back and play rugby in my 40s, just to enjoy it,” the 29-year-old told journalists on Friday in the pre-event championship on Friday in Nairobi.

Omanyala currently holds the African 100m record of 9.77 seconds, which he registered in victory at the 2021 Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on September 18, 2021. He is the ninth fastest runner in history over 100m.

Omanyala broke the African record over 150m in the Adidas Atlanta City Games of 14.70 on May 12.

On May 10, he was part of Kenya’s 4x100m team that competed at the 2025 World Relay Championships.

The team attained the qualification standard for the 2025 World Athletics Championships planned for Tokyo in September.

Similarly, everything about University of Tennessee alumnae McCoy has been about change.  

Other than having to change from playing basketball to athletics, the sprinter, now 28, has had to change her nationality twice.

Born on December 9, 1996, and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, McCoy grew up playing basketball but was convinced to take up athletics after joining Whitehaven High School in Memphis.

As a university student, McCoy won many accolades in 100m and 200m races but struggled to break through to the senior ranks. In 2000, she reached the semi-finals of the 100-meter dash at the 2020 US Olympic team trials, finishing 15th overall with a time of 11.16 seconds.

In 2024, the 28-year-old who holds a bachelor's degree in Communication Studies and a master's degree in Communication and Information from the University of Tennessee changed her nationality from American to Liberian as the West African nation sought to strengthen its national team.

As a Liberian, she won the silver medal in both 100m and the 4 × 100m relay at the 2024 African Games held in Ghana from March 8 to 23, 2024, and claimed another silver in 100m at the 2024 African Championships in Douala, Cameroon.

“At the time, I thought they were giving me more opportunity and more international experience, which they did because I got an opportunity to compete in Ghana and Cameroon, but it doesn’t just feel right deep down inside because I am an American, not Liberian.

I have never been there (Liberia) before either. Growing up in America, all I saw was Team USA, and what I always dreamt of was wearing that uniform.

My roots are American, and I want to compete for America…I am just happy to get back to competing for America,” she said at the pre-championship press conference on Friday in Nairobi.

You know Anderson Peters from Granada as the gold medallist in men’s javelin at the 2019 and 2022 World Athletics Championships, but did you know that the Mississippi State University alumnus started as a cricket player?

“I actually started my sporting career as a cricketer, as an all-rounder. I was a fast bowler and a big hitter. My dream as a cricketer was to go on to play for the West Indies, but watching the big track and field grabbed hold of me, so I had to make the switch to track and field.

Having been a fast bowler, it was easy to transition to track and field. I was competing in all track and field events, and at one time I thought I would be a decathlon athlete, but I just stuck with javelin, and I have seen tremendous improvement over the years.

There were some years in which I improved by 10 metres a year, and here I am as a world champion,” the athlete, who is competing in Kip Keino Classic for the third time, said.

He hopes to improve his form as he targets to compete in the 2025 World Athletics Championships scheduled for September 13 to 21 in Tokyo.

“If I get over the 90-meter mark tomorrow (Saturday), it will be a good feeling,” Peters said.

“This is my third competition of the season, I am still working to get back to my rhythm. Last year I was in my rhythm at the Olympic Games, but this season is just starting.

If I get 88 metres, I will be happy, but it will be better if I get 90 metres as I build for the season,” the 2024 Olympic Games bronze medalist said. Jan Železný from Croatia holds the world record of 98.4m, which he set in 1996.