Godson Oghenebrume and Favour Ashe have not only confirmed their spots in Friday’s 100m final at the ongoing 2023 NCAA outdoor championships through their lifetime best setting performances in the semifinals on Wednesday, they have also punched their tickets to August’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
The entry standard set by World Athletics for the blue ribband event is 10.00 seconds but the Nigerians ran inside it to set lifetime bests.
Oghenebrume sped to a wind legal 9.93 finish to win his semifinal heat and qualify for both the NCAA final and the World Championships.
The time is his first legal sub-10 seconds finish and it has catapaulted him to fourth on the Nigerian all-time list behind Olusoji Fasuba (9.85), Divine
Oduduru (9.86) and the duo of Seun Ogunkoya (9.92) and Udodi Onwuzurike (9.92).
Ashe on his part raced inside 10 seconds for the second time in his career to also move up in the Nigerian all-time ranking.
The Auburn University student is now seventh with his 9.96 clocking on Wednesday.
Oghenebrume and Ashe have now swelled the number of Nigerian men that have booked their World Championships ticket to have after Onwuzurike (100m and 200m),
Nathaniel Ezekiel (400m hurdles) and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (Shot Put).