Ajayi beats Olympic champion, runs second fastest opening round time by a Nigerian to zoom into first global 100m semis

Kanyinsola Ajayi made history Saturday morning in Paris as the second fastest Nigerian man in history in the opening round of the 100m at the Olympics.

The 19 year old ran 10.02 seconds, his second fastest time ever over the distance is only bettered by Enoch Adegoke’s 9.98 run in the opening round of the event at the 2020 Olympics.

Adegoke would later go on to run in the final of the event, 25 years after Davidson Ezinwa made Nigeria’s final appearance in the final.

Ajayi also defeated reigning Olympic champion Marcel Lamont Jacobs to achieve the feat and he will now be aiming to emulate Adegoke who ran all the way to the final in his debut three years ago.

Meanwhile, Favour Ashe also made it to the semifinal as one of the three non-automatic qualifiers (fastest losers).

The 22year old ran 10.16 to place fourth in his heat but squeezed through with Benjamin Richardson (10.06) of South Africa and Emmanuel Matadi of Liberia.