Kenya’s fastest man just put a hard stop on the IShowSpeed hype train.
The fire started Tuesday when Ferdinand Omanyala dropped a blunt warning in an interview: he’s willing to race the American YouTube star—but not for free. And he didn’t mess around. The fee? $50,000, or roughly KSh 6.4 million.
“No charity races,” Omanyala said. “He has a team, I have a team. If he wants to compete, of course, he will reach out—but we are not doing it for free.”
Social media erupted instantly. Fans tagged Omanyala nonstop, demanding he face the 20-year-old viral creator. Some expected a fun exhibition, others wanted fireworks. Omanyala, though, kept it cool—and confident. On X, he joked, “I would whoop him by the third step.”
Speed’s track record isn’t exactly spotless. He “beat” Olympic 200m champ Letsile Tebogo in Botswana—but only after Tebogo slipped. He also lost a high-profile 50m dash to Noah Lyles in front of millions of viewers.
Now, all eyes are on Speed. Will he drop millions to race Africa’s Sub-10 king? Or let the showdown slip into another viral “what if”?
For Omanyala, it’s clear: this isn’t content, it’s business. And for fans, the drama is just getting started.