Ajayi Headlines 100m Field at World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting in Sotteville-les-Rouen
Nigerian sprint sensation Kanyinsola Ajayi will make his highly anticipated 2025 international outdoor debut at the 2025 Meeting International Sotteville-les-Rouen, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver event in France.
The 20-year-old, who reached the 100m semifinals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, is coming off a stellar collegiate season where he clocked 9.92 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in Nigerian history. Ajayi also made headlines earlier in the year by equaling the national indoor 60m record with a 6.48-second run at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
His consistency was unmatched throughout the season—breaking 6.60 seconds seven times indoors and dipping under 10 seconds three times outdoors, culminating in his 9.92 breakthrough.
Now transitioning from collegiate to elite international competition for the season, Ajayi will line up in lane five in Sotteville, flanked by African Championships silver medalist Emmanuel Eseme in lane four and Canadian sprinter Jerome Blake in lane six.
All three athletes have run sub-10 this year, but Ajayi enters as the fastest in the field this season.
With the World Championships in Tokyo looming this September, Ajayi is aiming to become the first Nigerian in 18 years to reach the 100m final at the global showpiece. The last to do so was Olusoji Fasuba, who placed fourth in Osaka 2007.
Sotteville could be the first major step in Ajayi’s journey toward that historic goal.
