2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships: Favour Ofili seeking to become first Nigerian in 35 years to win 200m title

Can Favour Ofili perform a miracle and become the second Nigerian after Mary Onyali (1988) to win the 200m title at the NCAA outdoor championships when it
gets underway on Wednesday in Austin, Texas?

This will be the million naira question agitating the minds of Nigerians after watching the Nigerian lose to Aby Steiner last year in the final of the
championships held in Eugene, Oregon.

While the 20 year old was flying in the pre-championships meetings, becoming the first Nigerian woman to break 22 seconds (21.96) in the event last year,
this time, Ofili is struggling to get back to the shape that fetched her a new 22.11 African indoor record last March.

Since she returned after what obviously would be an injury-induced absence in late April, the best Ofili has done in the half lap was the 22.58 she ran in
her first 200m outdoor race of the season last month.

Since then, she has struggled for the form she will require to surmount the almost insurmountable obstacle University of Texas Saint Lucia sprinter, Julia
Alfred represents.

Alfred has been in phenomenal form this year, successfully completing a sprint double at the NCAA indoor championships in New Mexico in March.

This outdoor season, Alfred has been flying where Ofili has literarily been crawling. The 21 year old Saint Lucia sprinter has ducked under 22 seconds
(21.91) this year and has been rightly tipped to run away with the sprint titles.

Since Onyali ran 22.70 to win the NCAA 200m title in Eugene, Oregon in June 1988, the closest any Nigerian had come was Ofili’s second place finish last year
and the 20 year old is not even assured of a podium appearance.