Adegoke renews hopes of another Olympics appearance, runs 10.20 at MTN Champs in Ibadan
Enoch Adegoke seems to be returning to form at the right time after storming to a 10.20 finish to win the men’s 100m at the MTN CHAMPS held at the Lekan
Salami Stadium Sports Complex in Ibadan.
It was the 24 year old’s fastest time since he ran 10.28 at the Dynamic Athletics meeting in Lagos in January.
Adegoke will now be seeking to run faster and meet the 10.00 seconds qualifying time for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
He made history three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics when he became the first Nigerian since Davidson Ezinwa in 1996 to run in the final of the 100m event
to the Olympics.
It was at the Games he ran inside 10 seconds for the first time in his career, stopping the clock at 9.98 to win heat two of the opening round of the 100m in
Tokyo.
Since then, the 2021 National Sports Festival 100m king has had to battle with injuries, ending 2022 with a 10.44 personal season’s best. He improved to
10.32 last year and ran 10.28 in Lagos before improving further with a 10.20 performance in Ibadan.
Adekalu Fakorede ran a new 10.23s lifetime best to finish second while Olaolu Olatunde also sped a new personal best of 10.47s to finish third.
Arena Academy’s Janet Adeshina (11.94s) was the woman to beat in the 100m where she finished ahead of African Games Long jump Bronze medallist Prestina
Ochonogor (11.97s) and Taiwo Aremu of Jaf Athletics who was 3rd in 12.07s.
Ochonogor won two medals on Day 2 of MTN CHAMPS Ibadan as she also triumphed in the women’s Long Jump where she made a leap of 6.20m.
In the Junior Boys (U20) class, John Caleb (10.73s), Ibrahim Ajibare (10.88s) and Ibukun Daramola were the Top 3 finishers, while Stella Oyebode (12.06s)
dominated the Girls’ category, with Mariam Jegede (12.29s) and TumininuSanyaolu following.
Sewekan Thovoetin of Osheku Striders secured a hard-fought victory in the men’s 400m where he returned a time of 47.53s. Ajayi Kehinde of Easy Athletics and
Afam Michael finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in 47.65s and 48.56s respectively.
Emmanuel Ajayi emerged winner in the Junior Boys’ High Jump event to finish ahead of Michael Oyebode and Gideon Adoro.
