Favour Ashe Runs Historic 9.93s to Claim Nigerian 100m Title
Okon-George, Tyler, and Oladipo Shine at Nigerian Championships/ Commonwealth Games Trials
Favour Ashe stormed to a new personal best of 9.93 seconds (+0.5) to win the men’s 100m title at the Nigerian Commonwealth Games Trials in Lagos, becoming the fastest Nigerian man ever to win the Nigerian Championships and fastest ever on home soil.
His blistering run capped a historic race in which Nicholas Fakorede finished second in 9.98 seconds, also a personal best.
Together, Ashe and Fakorede became the first Nigerians to break 10 seconds in the same race at the national championships, and the first since 2003 when Deji Aliu and Uchenna Emedolu achieved the feat at the African Games in Abuja.
Ashe has now dipped under 10 seconds on both occasions he has won the Nigerian 100m title, having clocked 9.99 seconds to win his first crown in 2022 at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City.
Chidera Ezeakor also impressed in Lagos, finishing third in a personal best of 10.03 seconds.
In the women’s 400m, veteran quarter-miler Patience Okon-George, 34, once again proved her enduring class, powering to victory in 51.87 seconds to claim the national title for the fifth time and her first since 2021. Kudoro Taiwo, 2024 winner, finished in second position.
The men’s 400m final saw Johnson Tyler, who recently switched allegiance from the United States to Nigeria in March, storm to victory in 45.75 seconds. Achakpoekir Victory secured silver in 45.91 seconds, while Emmanuel Ojeli, winner in 2019, completed the podium with 45.94 seconds.
Divine Oladipo, 27, continued her dominance in the women’s shot put, claiming her second consecutive national title with a throw of 16.90m, her second farthest mark of the season but bow her winning mark of 17.01m in 2025. Competing in only her second Nigerian championships, Oladipo has now won gold in both appearances.
