After an exciting look at some of Nigeria’s rising stars in Part 1 of this series, we now turn to the stories of our top four breakout performers of the year, each of whom has hit significant milestones, won medals and redefined expectations in Nigerian Athletics for the coming year.
4. ESTHER ELO JOSEPH
From an unknown name just a year prior, Esther Elo Joseph ended the 2024 season as the highest-ranked female athlete in the 400m. She kicked off her season with a strong performance at the Dynamic Athletics Meet in Lagos, setting a new PB of 53.01s. Her swift rise continued with a stunning victory at the MTN CHAMPS/AFN National Trials where she defeated veteran Patience Okon-George and recorded a remarkable 52.00s, a pivotal breakthrough in her career.
Joseph carried her impressive form into the African Games, setting new PBs in each round of the 400m. Her outstanding efforts earned her a Silver medal in the final, where she clocked 51.61s in her debut for Nigeria. She also claimed GOLD as the anchor of Nigeria’s 4x400m relay team. At the World Relays in The Bahamas, she contributed to Nigeria’s African record of 3:12.87 in the mixed 4x400m relay, securing Olympic qualification in the process.
On the home front, Joseph proved to be a dominant force, remaining undefeated for the rest of the season. She claimed victory in every race she entered, including the CAA Region II 400m title in Ghana and her first national 400m title in Benin, a significant improvement from her 6th place finish at the previous National Championships.
Joseph further added to her accolades by securing a Bronze in the 400m and a GOLD in the 4x400m relay at the African Championships in Douala. Although she fell short of the direct Olympic qualification standard, her impressive global ranking granted her a qualification quota for Paris, keeping her Olympic dreams alive.
3. ELLA ONOJUVWEVWO
Ella Onojuvwevwo emerged in 2024 as Nigeria’s best female athlete in the 400m. She in fact became the fastest Nigerian woman in the 400m in over two decades when she ran a PB of 50.57s in Florida, making her the fastest since National Record holder Falilat Ogunkoya clocked 50.50s in 2001. That performance immediately took her up to 5th on the Nigerian all-time list.
Onojuvwevwo had a slow start to the season, missing out on qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships. She however began to peak outdoors, showing flashes of her potential at the World Relays in The Bahamas, where she ran a 50.0 split as part of Nigeria’s mixed 4x400m team, securing Olympic qualification.
Just days later, she returned to the U.S. for the SEC Championships, where she delivered an outstanding performance, clocking 50.57s to make the 400m final. With this feat, she became the first Nigerian woman to break the 51-second barrier in the 400m since 2015!
She surpassed the Olympic qualifying standard for the event pegged at 50.95s and took down the LSU School Record that stood for 21 years.
From there, Onojuvwevwo consistently ran sub-51 times, ultimately advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she finished 6th overall. At the African Athletics Championships in Cameroon, she earned two medals: GOLD in the women’s 4x400m and Silver in the mixed 4x400m.
She made her Olympic debut in Paris, where she helped set a new National Record of 3:11.99 in the mixed 4x400m. Although she didn’t advance from her 400m heat initially, her standout performance came in the repechage round, where she won convincingly in 50.59s to qualify for the semifinals.
2. PRESTINA OCHONOGOR
Prestina Ochonogor has established herself as one of the brightest talents on the Nigerian Athletics circuit. Rising through the ranks in 2023, her biggest achievement was a Silver medal in the women’s Long Jump at the African U-18 Championships in Lusaka, with a then-PB of 6.00m.
In her 2024 season debut, Ochonogor wasted no time in making a statement, going out to an impressive PB of 6.66m at the Dynamic Athletics Outdoor Meet in Lagos. She was selected for the African Games where she produced the performance of her life, leaping a windy 6.67m to claim Bronze in the women’s Long Jump and help Nigeria secure a 1-3 finish alongside her mentor Ese Brume. Interestingly, Ochonogor’s journey in athletics has been closely tied to the African Record holder as she’s being trained by Brume’s coach, Kayode Yaya.
Staying active with multiple races under her belt, she truly shone at the MTN Champs Grand Finale in Calabar, where she set a new African U-20 Record of 6.79m, breaking the record previously set by Brume and an additional PB of 11.74s in the 100m.
At her second international senior outing for Nigeria at the CAA Region II Championships, she won GOLD and built on this momentum by delivering another standout performance at the Nigerian Athletics Championships, securing her first national title with a remarkable 6.75m.
Though she narrowly missed out on a podium finish at the African Championships in Douala where she placed 4th in the Long Jump, her consistency and string of stellar performances led to her qualification for her first Olympic Games in Paris. There, Ochonogor made history as part of a Nigerian trio that reached the women’s Long Jump final. She finished 12th in the Olympic final and capped off her breakout season by placing 5th at the World U20 Championships in Peru.
1. SAMUEL OGAZI
Samuel Ogazi has talent! He possesses the kind of talent that excites people about his future, and in tandem, the future of Nigerian quarter-miling. It was no surprise, then, that the Nigerian men’s 400m surged to life in 2024, with Ogazi at the forefront.
At the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad & Tobago, he finally had the chance to speak with Jereem Richards, his long-time idol, which was a major influence on his decision to commit to the University of Alabama—where Richards had also been a standout. However, even for someone of his talent, he would not have envisaged that his idol would become his rival in 2024.
It did not take Ogazi long to settle into the system after arriving in the winter. In his first official outdoor 400m, Ogazi shaved over half a second off his lifetime best, clocking 45.35s in Baton Rouge. Shortly after, he was called up for the World Relays in The Bahamas where he helped the mixed 4x400m team set an African Record of 3:12.87, securing Olympic qualification in the process.
Any lingering fatigue was not evident a few days later at the SEC Championships. Competing in the final of the men’s 400m, Ogazi started the race with his typical conservative approach till he hit a crescendo, finishing 2nd in a stunning 44.58s! In that moment, he became the fastest man in Alabama history, surpassing the legendary Kirani James who held the School Record in the process.
His time not only surpassed the Olympic standard of 45.00s by a mile, but also saw him through as the fastest Nigerian athlete since Innocent Egbunike set the National Record of 44.17s 37 years ago! Over the next month, he axed down his PB two more times and went on to win Silver at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and a remarkable Bronze at the African Athletics Championships in Douala.
At the Olympics in Paris, he set a PB in the first two rounds, running 44.50s and then 44.41s, which qualified him for the final of the men’s 400m—the same final in which his idol, Jereem Richards, also qualified. He was arguably the most vastly improved Nigerian athlete of the year, posting nine PBs and finishing the year as one of the best quarter-milers in the world.
