UDODI Onwuzurike was the standout Nigerian athlete over the weekend in United States of America collegiate meets, setting personal, school and national records.
The 20-year-old student of Stanford University won the men’s 200m at the PAC-12 Championship in Walnut, California, clocking a blistering 19.91 seconds.
With the time, Onwuzurike broke multiple records. It is his new personal best, Stanford record in the event and the leading time in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) this year.
The time is also the third fastest in the 200m in the world in 2023 and the third fastest by a Nigerian of all time.
Divine Oduduru (19.73s) and Francis Obikwelu (19.84s) are the only Nigerian to have run faster that Onwuzurike’s 19.91s in history.
Remarkably, just under an hour before his historic performance, Onwuzurike took part in the men’s 100m final and he finished a close second.
Micah Williams won the race with a time of 10.22s, with Onwuzurike sticking with him to the finish line in 10.23s. Chris Borzor was third in 10.34s.
In the C-USA men’s 100m final, Alaba Akintola came first in an impressive 10.05s, with Karlington Anunagba finishing second in 10.20s to complete a Nigerian one, two.
Akintola also won the men’s 200m in 20.43s at the meet held at the University of North Texas Track and Field Stadium.
Also over the weekend, Stephen Eloji, produced a personal best of 13.50s to win the men’s 110m hurdles at the C-USA Championships, becoming the fourth fastest man in the distance in Nigerian history.
He was followed by another Nigerian, Bashiru Abdullahi, who came second in 13.71s.
Nigerian women were not so impressive this weekend with Nse Imaobong Uko clocking 52.13s to finish fourth in the 400m final at the Big 12 Championships, after helping her school Baylor University to silver in the 4x100m.
Rosemary Chukwuma also finished fourth in the women’s 100m, with her season’s best of 11.21s.
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