Ogazi and Ajayi are Nigerian biggest movers in World Athletics rankings in 2024
Quartermiler Samuel Ogazi and sprinter Kanyinsola Ajayi are among the Nigerian biggest movers in the world rankings for 2024 following the latest update by World Athletics.
Both made their debut at the Paris 2024 Olympics and while Ogazi made it to the men’s 400m final, becoming in the process the first Nigerian to do so since Innocent Egbunike last did in 1988, Ajayi ran all the way to the semifinals of the 100m.
Ogazi was ranked the 18th best Nigerian in January 2024 with 1132 ranking score and 2,556th in the world at the same time but the 18-year-old has moved to second in Nigeria and 206th in the world with the 1322 the ranking score he garnered from his incredible performances in the outgone season.
He ran inside 45 seconds six times, a feat only Egbunike surpassed, including the 44.41 seconds he ran in the semifinal of the 400m at the Paris Olympics to set a new lifetime best.
The reigning African U18 200m and 400m king is also ranked the 13th best in the world in his event as against his 164th ranking in January.
Like Ogazi, Ajayi also had a geometrical rise to national and international reckoning in 2024.
Ranked the 278th best in the 100m in the world in January 2024 when he was just a 10.27 runner, Ajayi showed Nigeria is filled with loads of talents after his incredible rise. He first showed a glimpse of a star in the making when, in his first indoor season, he ran 6.60 to win the SEC Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA.
Outdoors, he followed it up with seven runs inside 10.10 seconds including a 10.00 lifetime best performance at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meet in Luzern, Switzerland.
Ajayi began 2024 as the 25th best in Nigeria, 278th in the 100m and as the 3,013 best in the world but the 20-year-old will end the year as the 385th best in the men’s overall ranking, 25th best in the world in the 100m and the undisputed number one sprinter in Nigeria.
