There is a newly crowned fastest man in Africa and he just happens to be from Nigeria.
His name is Raymond Ekevwo and he secured this title with a 9.96s finish in the men’s 100m at the 2019 All African Games in Morocco.
His fast finish in the race set several records — becoming the fastest in the continent and helping Nigeria win a Gold Medal. This marks the first win for the country in the 100m event since 2007 when Nigerian sprint legend Olusoji Fasuba achieved this feat.
After his victory, the new African fastest runner told Premium Times, “I just want to give glory to God, I have been working for this day, I just came here did the right thing and executed by race, I just feel very happy.
."I feel proud as a Nigerian, I am now looking forward to the World Championship, this is like a strategy race, I am looking forward to the Championship in Doha.”
Cote d’Ivoire’s Arthur Cisse came in second place followed by fellow Nigerian runner Usheoritse Itsekiri who ran a Personal Best of 10.02s to take Bronze.
With this victory, Ekevwo is now the second Nigerian to run sub-10s since Divine Oduduru did it in 2013. He also joins Fasuba, Chidi Imoh, Davidson Ezinwa and Deji Aliu as the newest Nigerian to win a 100m gold medal for the country at the African Games.
ALSO READ: Oduduru’s progress at Texas Tech highlights the worrying decline of talent development in Nigeria
Another Nigerian runner set another remarkable record earlier this year. Divine Oduduru made history when he breezed to a fast 9.95s, later rounded off to 9.94s to win at the 2019 Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco, Texas.
The new feat was a new Personal Best (PB) for him, a new School Record (SR) and the fastest time in the 100m in the world this year. He came close to breaking a record set by Fasuba, who set a new African record by finishing a 100m in 9.85s back in 2006.
Less than an hour later after his record-breaking performance in 100 metres, he went on to win the 200 meters in 19.73 seconds.
“In my 35 years of coaching, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Tech coach Wes Kittley said after the double wins in the 100m and 200m events. “To run that 9.94 and then 40 minutes later, ran the 200. This was a really tight schedule and pretty spectacular performances that close together.”
Oduduru joins a short list of sprint legends like Usain Bolt who have run 19.76 or faster outdoors in the 200m. According to lubbockonline.com, only 18 men have done this.
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