Ferdinand Omanyala claimed the men's 100m title at the African Athletics Championships ©Getty Images

Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala and Gina Bass of The Gambia have been crowned the fastest athletes on the continent following their respective wins over 100 metres at the African Athletics Championships in Mauritius.

African record holder Omanyala came late to cross the line in 9.93sec, beating Akani Simbine, the man he took the record from, in a photo finish.

Simbine’s South African compatriot Henricho Bruintjies took the bronze in 10.01.

Bass headed into the final as one of three clear contenders for the title alongside yesterday’s fastest runner Aminatou Seyni of Niger and South Africa’s Carina Horn.

The Gambian athlete crossed the line in 11.06 to take the win in front of Seyni in 11.09.

Horn took bronze in 11.14.

Gina Bass won the women's 100m final in front of Aminatou Seyni and Carina Horn ©Getty Images
Gina Bass won the women's 100m final in front of Aminatou Seyni and Carina Horn ©Getty Images

Carrying over a large lead from yesterday, Benin’s Odile Ahouanwanou finished the job in the women’s heptathlon with a total of 5,756 points.

Wins in the long jump and javelin meant the leader just had to finish the 800 metres to secure the victory - and despite being 20 seconds off the pace of the two-lap race winner Aminata Bah of Mali, she was the clear victor overall.

Shannon Verster of South Africa finished second in the 800m, guaranteeing the silver in front of Tunisian Choundi Nada who scored 5,329 and 5,117 respectively.

Kenyan Beatrice Chebet took victory in the women’s 5,000m in a time of 15min 00.82sec to add to her under-20 world title over the same distance, beating Ethiopian Fentaye Belayneh in a sprint finish.

Chebet’s team-mate Caroline Nyaga completed the podium five seconds behind.

Notably, South African Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion over 800m, could only finish sixth in a time of 16:03.24, meaning she does not have the qualifying time for the World Championships.

Semenya was forced to change distance after World Athletics banned athletes with differences in sex development from competing between 400m and 1500m.

In the women’s 1500m final, there was another win for Kenya as Winny Chebet won a slow race by the finest of margins over team-mate Purity Chepkirui in 4:16.10.

Ayal Dagnachew of Ethiopia took bronze.

Tobi Amusan was expectedly victorious in the women's 100m hurdles final ©Getty Images
Tobi Amusan was expectedly victorious in the women's 100m hurdles final ©Getty Images

Tobi Amusan of Nigeria was the expected winner in the women’s 100m hurdles final in 12.57sec, finishing ahead of Ebony Morrison of Liberia and South Africa’s Marione Fourie.

Amine Bouanani of Algeria was the clear winner in the men’s 110m hurdles final, finishing in 13.26sec.

Jeremie Lararaudeuse of the home nation Mauritius and South African Antonio Alkana completed the podium.

Rose Yeboah of Ghana claimed the women’s high jump title on countback with a best of 1.79 metres, as Nigerian Temitope Adeshina and Yvonne Robson of South Africa scored the same for silver and bronze.

Elsewhere, Werner Visser of South Africa led a podium of compatriot Victor Hogan and Namibia’s Ryan Williams in the men’s discus with a best of 61.80m in the last round and the men’s long jump was won by Botswana’s Thalosang Tshireletso in 7.82m.

Cheswill Johnson of South Africa and Amath Faye of Senegal completed the podium.

Finally, Botswana claimed gold in the mixed 4x400m relay in 3:21.85, with Nigeria and Kenya marginally behind for silver and bronze.