Mercy Umoibang

The saying that big things come in small packages is epitomized in Mercy Umoibang who was born on 13th October 2001, and dreams of achieving great feats in her Athletics career. The teenager was discovered at the 2016 Heritage Bank Skoolimpics in Lagos where she represented her school at the time, Army Children Senior High School, Ikeja Cantonment, competing in the Girls’ 100m and winning her heat.

Umoibang commenced her Athletics career from an early age, having developed an interest in running from primary school. At the time she was doing it more for fun, not knowing it was something she was going to do for a long time to come.

The older Umoibang was unveiled as a Making of Champions (MoC) athlete in November 2017 and was subsequently awarded a three-year Student-Athlete Scholarship by Oil and Gas Company, Niger Delta Exploration & Production Plc (NDEP). NDEP’s scholarship afforded Umoibang the opportunity of switching to a top private secondary school in Surulere, Princeton College, where she will complete her senior secondary education.

Umoibang first represented MoC at the 2018 National U-18 Championships, which was her first competition outside Lagos State. She put up a decent performance to place 4th in her heat and 5th in her 400m final.

At the MoC Grand Prix, Umoibang had the opportunity of rubbing shoulders with her older counterparts and made the most of it by lowering her lifetime best. She thereafter took some time off the track and returned in 2020 with a bang, racing to a PB of 55.61s to finish 2nd to teammate Blessing Oladoye at the Lagos State Trials for the National Sports Festival.

Her dream is to represent Nigeria at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, next year!