4. SEYE OGUNLEWE
So many athletes envy the accolade of being called ‘Nigeria’s fastest man’, but when you own this title two times in a row, it means you surely stand out among your peers.
Coming to the National Championships with a PB of 10.18s set at the IAAF World Challenge in Madrid a few weeks before, Ogunlewe was in a race against time to meet the Olympic qualifying mark of 10.16s, and to defend his highly coveted title.
However, the 24 year old did all of these on a memorable note, stopping the clock in a new PB of 10.12s, thereby cementing his place as one of the athletes to don the green and white colours of the country in Brazil. Based on his feat in Sapele, he also struck a sponsorship deal with Union Bank as one of its five ambassadors going to Rio.
And while many may argue about the impact he’ll have at the Games, it’s worthy to note that this has been a year of PBs for the Nigerian Champion, and who knows, we might just be having our first 9s runner in about a decade in the University of Essex graduate.
