Divine Oduduru is in the form of his life, with the Nigerian athlete on Friday running a new indoor Personal Best (PB) of 20.49s to win the 200m at the Texas Tech Track & Field Red Raider Invitational.
Such was the significance of that win which saw Oduduru who’s studying at the Texas Tech college, smashing his school’s 200-meter indoor record which had previously stood since 1998.
🚨Divine Oduduru secures the new SCHOOL RECORD in the men's 200m! #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/bioIdKVa7F
— TTU Track & Field/XC (@TTU_TF_XC) January 19, 2018
The former National 200m champion quickly closed the gap on Kyle Collins, then caught up with Dedric Dukes on the bend before pedalling away in an emphatic victory. Dukes finished 2nd in 20.89s with Collins 3rd in 21.13s. Another Nigerian athlete Omeiza Akerele finished 4th in that race with a time of 21.89s.
Raymond Ekevwo who last weekend ran a 60m PB of 6.69s was listed to compete in the 200m heat 3 but he Did Not Start (DNS).
Oduduru’s time was .03s shy of Francis Obikwelu’s 200m Indoor National Record (NR) of 20.46s, which ran in 19 years ago at the Meeting Pas de Calais in France.
Just last weekend, Oduduru opened his season at the Corky classic where he ran a time of 6.66s to rank at number 2 in his school’s 60m All-time Record.
Having missed the majority of 2017 with an injury, seems like Oduduru is hitting form at the right time and proving that he could be the one to beat at the Nigerian Championships
