Nigerian standouts Godbless, Umukoro, Ezekiel, Ajayi set for another weekend of Collegiate track and field action

Nigerian standouts Tima Godbless, Ella Onojuvevwewo, Nathaniel Ezekiel, Success Umukoro and Kanyinsola Ajayi are among the athletes set to compete this weekend at various Collegiate meets in the USA, including the Jarvis Scott Invite at the Sports Performance Center in Lubbock, Texas, the Tyson Invitational at the Randal Tyson Track Centre in Fayetteville, Arkansas and the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina.

Godbless, who ran a new 7.14 lifetime best to punch her ticket to her first World indoor championships holding next month in Nanjing, China, will be competing in the 60m invitational event in Fayetteville where she will be looking to break 7.1 in the event and become the eighth Nigerian to do so.

The 20 year old has been drawn in the first of three heats with the Jamaican duo of Tina Clayton and Natasha Morison.

Godbless will be seeking to pick one of the two automatic tickets on offer for a place in the semis or be among the 10 non-automatic qualifiers.

Umukoro will also be in action, not in Fayetteville but in Lubbock where she will be competing in the 200m event.

The 24 year old holds a 23.19 personal best in the event but has achieved 23.50 this season.

She will thus be aiming to either equal the lifetime best she set last year at the same track or become the third Nigerian after Favour Ofili and Rosemary Chukwuma to break 23 seconds in the event, indoors.

In the 60m event in Lubbock, a number of Nigerian students-athletes will also be in action. Olayinka Olajide, Joy Egwu, Ruth Agadama, Victoria Arowosegbe and Adeyemi Talabi have been listed to run.

Olajide, the African Games 200m silver medalist, is in her first season indoors and will hope she can improve on the 7.42 personal best she set on the same track last month.

In the men’s 400m, Nathaniel will have another opportunity to attack the 45.51 African indoor record set by Sunday Bada (now late) on his way to winning the full lap gold at the World indoor Championships in 1997 in Paris, France.

Nathaniel, drawn in the first heat of the event in Lubbock, came closest to doing just that last year when he ran 45.54 at the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex in Clemson, South Carolina.

This year, the 21 year old has run 45.56 and will be confident he can add another record to the Nigerian 400m hurdles record (48.00) he holds.

After running a 23.19 personal best in the 200m event last week, Ella Onojuvwevwo will race over the 400m for the first time this season at the Tyson Invitational.

The World U20 finalist and Paris 2024 Olympics semifinalist holds a 52.47 lifetime best in her specialty and will be keen to set a new mark like she did in the 200m last week.

The 19 year old could be just the fifth Nigerian woman to break 52 seconds in the event.

A run inside 52 seconds will also confirm her ticket to the World indoor championships in Nanjing, same performance Chioma Nwachukwu will have to put up at the same event and same heat as Onojuvwevwo.

Nwanchukwu moved into ninth in the Nigerian all-time list when she ran 52.46 last week in Albuquerque in New Mexico but will need to set a new lifetime best and probably a sub-52 seconds to guarantee her a lane in Nanjing.

At the Music City Challenge holding at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility in Nashville, Tennessee, Ramot Abike Jimoh will be seeking to improve on the 4:49.49 Nigerian record she set in the Mile last month at the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex in Clemson, South Carolina.

In the men’s 200m, Carson-Newman freshman, Favour Ekpekpe will be one of the Nigerians in action in Tennessee. Also billed to run in the half lap event is Olaolu Olatunde, the freshman from Harding who has done a 21.53 over the distance this year.

Olatunde will also be running in the 60m event which also has another notable Nigerian, Alaba Akintola listed.

At the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina, Faith Okwose will be in action in the 60m and will be looking to improve on the 7.34 personal best she set last month.

Also listed to run in the event is Tiana Eyakpobeyan who holds a 7.31 lifetime best which she set just last week at the Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In the men’s version, Adekalu Fakorede, Kanyinsola Ajayi and Israel Okon are listed to compete.

While Fakorede, who holds a 6.60 lifetime best will be keen to become the 17th Nigerian to run a 6.5 in the event, Ajayi, the reigning Nigeria 100m king will hope to move up in the Nigerian all-time ranking.

The 20 year old Paris 2024 Olympics 100m semifinalist is joint 12th in the ranking and could either move to stand alone as 12th or run as fast as 6.53 to be joint 11th with Raymond Ekevwo.