Ofili breaks Africa’s 150m record

Ofili breaks Africa’s 150m record

… As Brume picks Olympics ticket

United States-based Nigerian sprinter, Favour Ofili, is now Africa’s fastest woman in 150 metres following a blistering 16.30 seconds return at the Adidas Atlanta City Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, reports The Guardian.

The 21-year-old has thus supplanted Cote d’Ivoires’ Marie-Josee ta Lou-Smith 16.60 seconds as Africa’s numero uno in the rarely run event.

Ofili recorded the same time as Candace Hill, and the two-time World Youth and World U-20 champion seems to be coming back to form to fulfill her dream of winning a medal in the fast-approaching Paris 2024 Olympics.

Though Ofili didn’t have the best starts, she managed to race past Britain’s Daryll Neita to chase Hill to the finish line. The Louisiana State University (LSU) graduate now holds three records; the Nigerian records in the 200m, indoors (22.11secs), the outdoor (21.96secs) and the African 150m mark.

In February, Odili ran 35.99 seconds over 300m at the New Balance event, Boston, US to set the second fastest time ever by an African behind Beatrice Masilingi’s time of 34.60 seconds.

Also at the weekend, Africa’s number one and female long jump queen, Ese Brume, punched he ticket to the Paris Olympics with a Season’s Best (SB) of 6.87m at the Adidas Atlanta City Games. She finished third at the event but was able to hit the automatic qualification standard.

Brume began with 6.68m in the first round and 6.58m in her second jump before leaping to a personal season’s best mark of 6.87m, one centimeter above the 6.86 qualifying mark set by World Athletics.

Brume won bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and is aiming to become the first Nigerian and African athlete to win two medals in the long jump event at the Olympics.

Another Nigerian, reigning Africa Games Shot Put champions, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, also at the weekend, reconfirmed his Olympic qualification in Los Angeles with a 21.78 personal season’s best. He placed third at the USATF LA Grand Prix held at the University of California’s Drake Stadium.

The marl was the Nigerian’s second best ever, and just two centimetres short of his 21.8om lifetime best, which he set in Luxembourg in August 2019.