Nigeria’s Kanyinsola Ajayi has made a remarkable debut at the Olympic Games, advancing to the semifinals of the men’s 100m event with a time of 10.02s (-0.3).
This impressive performance broke Davidson Ezinwa’s record for the fastest opening round time by a Nigerian at the Games (10.03s). Ajayi, 19, outran Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy, who finished second in 10.05s, and Ghana’s Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, who took third place in 10.06s.
With his lifetime best of 10.00 seconds, Ajayi is edging closer to the coveted sub-10s mark. Another Nigerian, Favour Ashe, also a student at Auburn University in the USA like Ajayi, finished fourth in his heat with a time of 10.16s and made it to Sunday’s semi-final as a non-automatic qualifier.
In the semi-final races on Sunday, Ajayi and Ashe will face formidable opponents in their respective heats ². Ajayi will contend with a talented field, including Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, Akani Simbine of South Africa, and Kenneth Bednarek of the USA, while Ashe takes on a star-studded lineup featuring Noah Lyles of the USA, Oblique Seville of Jamaica, Louie Hinchliffe of Great Britain, Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon, and Benjamin Azamati of Ghana.