Chukwuma goes head-to-head for the fourth time with Godbless over 100m in first outdoor race of 2025

Nigeria’s second fastest pair of legs ever in the 100m event, Rosemary Chukwuma will open her outdoor campaign of the year on Saturday at the Battle on the Bayou at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium at Baton Rouge in Louisiana.

The 23-year-old who raced once indoors (4x100m relays) will be going head-to-head with Nigeria’s star of the indoor season, Tima Godbless for the fourth time.

Barring any last-minute re-arrangement, both have been drawn in the same heat with Chukwuma, in lane 5, running inside of Godbless in six.

Chukwuma has won all three head-to-head races between the duo with their last encounter at the 2024 NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships final where she finished third (10.90) ahead of Godbless who sped home in eighth place (11.10).

While Chukwuma raced into history books the second fastest Nigerian in the 100m event with the 10.88 she ran in Fayetteville, Arkansas last May, Godbless has proved with her indoor performance that she belongs in the sub-11 seconds category, a feat she came close to accomplishing last year with her 11.03 run.

The 20-year-old looks to have improved geometrically since then as she has improved her personal best in the 60m from 7.77 seconds to an incredible 7.08, the third fastest time by a Nigerian ever over the distance and the fastest by a Nigerian since 2012 when Gloria Asumnu ran 7.07.

Also at the meet, another Nigerian, Tiana Eyakpobeyan will be out to prove she run faster than the 11.24 she ran in Lagos last June, and the 11.44 she opened her outdoor season with this year.

The 18-year-old has been drawn to run from lane nine in the second heat.

Meanwhile, middle distance runner, Ramat Jimoh has moved down to the 400m and will run from lane seven in the fourth heat.

Jimoh holds a lifetime best of 56.78 in the event in 2022 in Abuja and has not run below 800m since then.

The 21 year old had an incredible indoor season, setting lifetime best in as many as five events viz the Distance Medley (11:26.25), Mile (4:46.40), 1,000m (2:49.22), the Mile short track where she set a Nigerian record (4:49.49) and the 800m where she improved by her time by more than four seconds (2:04.97).