Alaba Akintola races to new 20.34s 200m PB in Atlanta

Reigning National Sports Festival 200m champion Alaba Akintola raced to a new 20.34s personal best Saturday at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, Georgia.

The 20 year old’s time is a massive improvement on the 20.51s he ran a year ago at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, Nigeria to win the 200m gold at the 20th National Sports Festival.

It is also a geometrical improvement on the 20.88 seconds personal season’s best he ran just last week at the War Eagle Invitational in Alabama.

The Middle Tennessee State University freshman’s time is the fifth fastest time by an African so far this outdoor season.

It is also the fastest time by a Nigerian, supplanting World U20 champion, Udodi Onwuzurike who ran 20.38s early this month in Stanford, California.

Only last week, Akintola set a new 10.09s lifetime best in the 100m to become the second fastest Nigerian so far this year behind Onwuzurike (10.07s).

At the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Favour Ofili was denied the chance to make history as a tail wind rendered her huge 10.90s in the 100m illegal.

The 19 year old was looking to become the first African sprinter to run inside 11 seconds in the 100m and 22 seconds in the 200m.

Yes, she ran inside 11 seconds for the first time in her career but a 4.2m/s tail wind renders it illegal.

At the same Bernie Moore Track Stadium, Ese Brume, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics bronze medallist jumped over 7m twice but on each of the two ocassions, a 2.5m/s (7.08m) and 3.4m/s (7.06m) tail wind means the marks will not be ranked among her legal jumps.

The 25 year old has legally jumped 7m and above twice, first in Bursa, Turkey in 2019 when she jumped 7.05m to become the third Nigerian long jumper to hit the 7m mark after Chioma Ajunwa and Blessing Okagbare.

Last year, Brume leapt a massive 7.17m to break Ajunwa’s the 25 year old African record.