Ajayi, Okon Advance to 100m Semifinals at Tokyo 2025 World Championships
Nigeria’s Kayinsola Ajayi and Israel Okon Sunday have booked their places in the men’s 100 metres semifinals at the ongoing 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Ajayi, making his debut at the global stage, clocked a personal best of 9.88 seconds to finish second in his heat behind South Africa’s Gift Leotlela (9.87s). Jamaica’s Oblique Seville followed in 9.93s. The performance places Ajayi as Nigeria’s third-fastest sprinter of all time, behind Olusoji Fasuba (9.85s) and Divine Oduduru (9.86s). It was also his fifth sub-10s run of the season, equalling the national record for most in a career.
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In another heat, fellow debutant Okon stunned the field with a 10.04s victory, beating Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (10.06s) and Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs (10.20s).
Ajayi is set to contest Semifinal 1 against Noah Lyles, Akani Simbine, Ackeem Blake and Jacobs, while Okon will line up in Semifinal 3 alongside Seville, Letsile Tebogo and Leotlela.
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In the field events, Nigeria’s shot put record-holder, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, placed fifth in the final with a best throw of 21.52m, after qualifying with 20.83m.
Team Nigeria returns to action on Day 2 of the championships, which run in Tokyo from September 13 to 21.