Temitope Adeshina claims historic NCAA indoor gold

Reigning Nigeria high jump record holder, Temitope Adeshina made history Saturday as the first Nigerian, man or woman to win the high jump title at the NCAA Division 1 indoor track and field championships.

The 26-year-old achieved this feat in Virginia when she soared to a personal season’s by clearing 1.94m to emerge as joint winner of the event with Elena Kulichenko, who also cleared 1.94m.

After clearing 1.91m on her first attempt to gain an advantage over Kulichenko who cleared the attempt on her second attempt, both the Nigerian and the Russian failed to clear 1.94m on their first attempt.

They both did on their second attempt and could not clear 1.97m which means both are tied in terms of height and countback as the Nigerian could only clear 1.85m and 1.88m on her second attempt while Kulichenko could not clear 1.88m and 1.91m on her first attempt.

Adeshina has thus become the first Nigerian to emerge NCAA indoor champion in four years and after Ruth Usoro did in 2021 in the triple jump event.