Oghenebrume and Onwuzurike soar in latest World rankings

Sprinters Godson Oghenebrume and Udodi Onwuzurike soared in the latest World rankings released Wednesday by World Athletics.

Oghenebrume, 100m silver medalist at the NCAA outdoor championships last weekend, is the biggest mover among Nigerian athletes who moved up in the latest
rankings, moving from the 50th he was ranked last week to 36th best in the world so far this year.

The 20 year old has had a geometrical rise in performance so far this year after he ended 2022 as the 117th best sprinter in the world.

The Louisiana State University student athlete ran a wind legal 9.90 to set a new lifetime best last weekend in the final of the 100m event at the NCAA championships in Austin, Texas.

The time moved him up to third in the Nigerian all-time list behind Olusoji Fasuba (9.85) and Divine Oduduru (9.86).

Onwuzurike also jumped from 25th last year to become the 16th best after he ran inside 200m thrice in under one month.

His 19.76 run in the semifinals of the NCAA the icing on the cake as he moved to number two in the Nigerian all-time list in the event behind Oduduru (19.73).

The 20 year old who won the 200m title two years ago at the World U20 championships ran 19.84 in the final of the event at the NCAA championships to become the third Nigerian winner of the event after Olopade Adeniken (1992) and Oduduru (2019).

Meanwhile, Favour Ashe, the reigning Nigeria 100m king is still the highest ranked Nigerian in the event (32) with Oghenebrume supplanting African Games fastest man, Raymond Ekevwo (39) as the second best.

Nathaniel Ezekiel, bronze medal winner at the NCAA championships also moved up from the 46 he was ranked at the end of 2022 to 35 in the latest ranking after running  inside 49 seconds twice (48.95 and 48.54) at the NCAA championships enroute to his bronze medal win.

Ruth Usoro led the women’s top movers in the rankings.

Ranked the 20th beat in the event at the end of last year, Usoro has moved up four steps to 16th after jumping 6.87m indoors last January and 6.82m
outdoor last month.

Reigning World 100m hurdles champion and record holder, Tobi Amusan is still the number one ranked in the event.

Ese Brume, silver medalist at the World indoor and outdoor championships last year is still the third best in the long jump behind the two women (Ivan Vuleta and Mihambo Malaika) who denied her gold in Belgrade and Oregon

Ashley Anumba, the Nigeria National Sports Festival Discus champion who finally broke the 60m barrier after coming a bit close (59.06m) in Asaba last December moved from 45th at the end of May to 29th in the latest rankings.

The 24 year old was ranked 73rd best at the end of last year.