Udodi Onwuzurike Confirmed for Diamond League Debut at Memorial Van Damme in Brussels
Nigeria’s Udodi Onwuzurike is set to make his debut in the prestigious Wanda Diamond League circuit at the 49th Allianz Memorial Van Damme meet in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday, August 22, 2025.
The event marks the 14th and final qualifying leg of the 15-meet Diamond League season before the grand finale in Zurich.
The 22-year-old sprinter, who won the World U20 title in the 200m in 2021, will compete in the men’s 200m event at the King Baudouin Stadium.
With a season’s best of 20.17 seconds and a personal best of 19.76, Onwuzurike enters the race ranked 170th globally and will face a formidable field that includes top-ranked African athletes and global sprint stars.
Among his competitors are Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh and Zimbabwe’s Charamba Makanakaishe, who has clocked 19.92 this season and is currently ranked 10th in the world.
The lineup also features American sprinters Christian Coleman, Gregory Robert, and Kyree King, alongside Belgian Kobe Vleminckx and Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando.
Onwuzurike will be vying for the maximum eight Diamond League points and a $10,000 top prize, with the Brussels meet offering athletes a final opportunity to qualify for the Zurich Final.
His appearance in Brussels marks a significant milestone for Nigerian athletics. Onwuzurike becomes only the second Nigerian male sprinter to compete in the Diamond League, following Divine Oduduru’s debut in 2019 after his historic NCAA sprint double.
He also becomes the fifth Nigerian man overall to feature in the series, joining Tosin Oke (triple jump), Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (shot put), Ezekiel Nathaniel (400m hurdles), and Oduduru.
In total, Onwuzurike is the 10th Nigerian athlete to compete in the Diamond League, alongside Blessing Okagbare, Gloria Asumnu, Favour Ofili, Ese Brume, and Tobi Amusan—the reigning 100m hurdles World record holder and the only Nigerian to win a Diamond League Trophy.
