There was a galore of Personal Bests (PB) at the inaugural Dynamic Athletics Outdoor Meeting held at the Nigerian Navy Sports Complex in Navy Town, Ojo, Lagos, which served as the first competition for home-based athletes in the 2024 Athletics season.
Consider Ekanem who went from 10.60s to 10.22s last season, proved that his feat the previous year was no fluke and that he’s indeed one of those athletes to look for this year.
Ekanem won the men’s 100m in a striking PB of 10.10s as Tokyo Olympics finalist Enoch Adegoke came in 2nd overall with a time of 10.28s. Adekalu Fakorede was 3rd in 10.30s. Israel Sunday Okon was 4th in 10.40s while MOC’s Emmanuel Ojeli ran a 10.44s for 5th place overall.
At the early stages of the competition, it was almost a repeat of the men’s 100m podium as Ekanem won the men’s 60m in a PB of 6.70s ahead of Adegoke (6.85s) and Ojeli (6.89s). Adekalu was 4th in 6.90s.
African U-18 Silver medalist Prestina Ochongor wouldn’t have wished for a better season-opener as she first broke sand in an initial PB of 6.34m, adding 34cm to her former PB set last season (6.00m).
On her second attempt, she went further to 6.41m and 6.45 on her third. In her final attempt, she went all out, leaving no room to spare on the plasticine board as she levitated to a massive PB of 6.66m to claim an emphatic victory in the women’s Long Jump!
Ochongor’s mark is a National and African Lead and currently ranks her 8th in the world. Her rivals didn’t miss out on the PB charm as they also broke 6.00m for the first time to round up the podium. Precious Nzeakor (6.04m) placed 2nd while Mary Adediran finished 3rd in 6.03m.
Olayinka Olajide was another outstanding athlete at the meet, recording three PBs after a two-year hiatus. She first won the women’s 60m with a PB of 7.50s, then followed up with an unusual appearance in the 400m, clocking a PB of 55.53s.
Olajide ended her outing with a glorious PB of 11.37s in the women’s 100m to take the win. Chisom Onyebuchi broke 11s for the first time to finish 2nd overall in 11.50s while Blessing Ogundiran came 3rd in 11.71s.
Ogundiran (7.63s) and Victoria Olaniyi (7.66s) rounded up the women’s 60m podium.
National Record Holder over the 3000m, Ronke Akanbi dominated the women’s 1500m in a National Leading time of 4:26.00. She later completed the double by winning the 800m as well. It was a similar story in the men’s event as Hamid Sambo also emerged double champion in the 800m/1500m.
