Tokyo 2025: Can Ajayi make history as first Nigerian to run in the 100m final since 2007?

Only six Nigerians have ever made it to the final of the 100m event at the World Athletics Championships.

Daniel Effiong made it where Chidi Imoh could not and in 1993, in Stuttgart, Germany, he made history as the first Nigerian man to race to the final of the blue ribband event.

He came in seventh but ended up running what would be the fastest time ever by a Nigerian (10.04) in the final of the event in the history of the championships.

Two years later at the Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, Olapade Adeniken was also in the final, and like Effiong, he ended up in seventh position (10.20).

Davidson Ezinwa ensured a Nigerian was also in the final in the next edition (Athens 1997), running 10.10 seconds to place sixth, Nigeria’s highest finish at the time.

The duo of Deji Aliu and Uchenna Emedolu made history as the first two Nigerians to run in the final of the 100m.

Deji ran 10.21 to finish fifth while the Agulu born Emedolu, then the reigning IAAF (now World Athletics) World Cup winner ran 10.22 to finish sixth.

Four years later, Olusoji Fasuba was expected to become the first Nigerian to make it to the podium following his 9.85 African record run a year earlier.

Well, wishes did not become horses and his beggars did not ride into the podium but left a record- he finished fourth (10.07), the highest finish by a Nigerian ever in the history of the Championships.

Since that time, Nigeria, the presumed giant of Africa, has never made it out of the semifinals.

Can Kanyinsola Ajayi and Israel Okon return Nigeria to the final and make history as the first to make it to podium?

Ajayi, semifinalist at the Olympics last year has proved he is among the top sprinters in the world. He first served notice of that during the NCAA indoor season, equaling Nigeria’s 6.48 seconds 60m record.

Outdoors, he proved his indoor feats were not by happenstances as he sped to four sub-10 seconds performances, the most by a Nigerian sprinter in a single season, capped by a 9.92 lifetime best twice.

He will be joined in Tokyo by his schoolmate, Okon who was also impressive in the NCAA indoor and outdoor season, breaking 10.1 seven times and running inside 6.60 in the 60m five times.

Nigerians are waiting if either or both of the duo can race to the final in Japan, a country where we last made it to the 100m final.