Kanyinsola Ajayi Breaks 32-Year Record, Becomes Nigeria’s Fastest Man At World Championship

Kanyinsola Ajayi Breaks 32-Year Record, Becomes Nigeria’s Fastest Man At World Championship 

By Admin 

 Kanyinsola Ajayi has etched his name into Nigerian athletics history, breaking a 32-year-old record previously held by Daniel Effiong to become Nigeria’s fastest man ever at the World Athletics Championships, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

The 20-year-old sprinter clocked a stunning 9.88 seconds to finish second in his first-round heat at the ongoing 20th edition of the Championships in Tokyo. His performance not only secured qualification to the next round but also marked a milestone in Nigerian sprinting history.

Ajayi’s time surpasses the long-standing benchmark set by Effiong, who ran 9.98 seconds in the semifinals of the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany — a race that made Effiong the first Nigerian to dip below 10 seconds in the history of the event.

Before Ajayi’s feat, Effiong’s mark remained the only sub-10-second performance by a Nigerian at the World Championships, standing as a symbol of sprinting excellence for over three decades.

Ajayi’s 9.88 seconds now becomes: The fastest time by a Nigerian sprinter in the history of the World Championships

The third-fastest time ever run by a Nigerian man, behind only Olusoji Fasuba’s 9.85 national record and one other sub-9.88 performance.

Notably, Ajayi is just 0.03 seconds shy of Fasuba’s long-standing national record set in Doha, Qatar, in 2006.

Should he maintain his current form, Ajayi could make further history — not only by challenging the national record but also by becoming the first Nigerian man to earn a medal in the 100m at the World Championships.

The highest finish by a Nigerian man in the 100m at the global event remains Fasuba’s fourth place in Osaka in 2007. Meanwhile, Effiong’s 10.04 seconds in the 1993 final remains the fastest by a Nigerian in a World Championship final.

As Ajayi advances through the rounds, expectations are high that he could become a breakout star for Nigeria on the global sprinting stage.