Ofili: I’m just happy to be healthy and I give God all the glory
Nigerian beats fiercest rival, Steiner, sets new stadium record in 200m
Favour Ofili on Saturday became the first sprinter in the Southeastern Conference, SEC, to win the 100m, 200m, and 4×100m relay at the conference meet since none other than LSU’s Sha’Carri Richardson, who did it back in 2019.
The Nigerian won the 100m event at the 2022 SEC Outdoor Championships held at the Ole Miss Track & Field Facility in Oxford, Mississippi, USA. She ran 10.93s to equal her personal best ahead of Steiner who ran 11.02s.
Interestingly enough, she ran it into a slight headwind (-0.7m/s) to make her the fastest in collegiate history into a headwind.
In the 200m, the 19 year old clocked 22.04s to edge Steiner (22.07s) again to the first spot and break the stadium record she had earlier set in the prelims when she ran 22.21s to break Texas A&M’s Olivia Ekpone’s 22.23s record set in 2014.
The 22.04s is the jont second fastest 200m time ever run by a Nigerian after Blessing Okagbare ran the then Nigerian and African record in 2018.
Ofili remains the fastest Nigerian over the distance after her incredible 21.96s performance last month.
Reacting to the feats, Ofili says only God deserves all the praises for her good fortune.
“Everything that I have, everything I’ve done here, it’s all by the grace of God,” Ofili said after her 200m title. “Competing with Abby, we know we are going to run fast times together. I’m just happy to be healthy and I give God all the glory.
“I just went out there and stuck to my race plan. It was a wonderful day for me and my teammates, and these moments that have been created won’t soon be forgotten.”
