Nigeria’s sprint duo, Kayinsola Ajayi and Israel Okon, the country’s sole representatives in the men’s 100 metres at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, have booked their spots in Sunday’s semi-finals.
Ajayi impressed in Heat 1, clocking a blistering Personal Best of 9.88s (+0.3) to finish second, while Okon dominated Heat 6 with a winning time of 10.04s (-0.6).
Ajayi’s effort earned him the second overall best finishing time, only behind South Africa’s Gift Leotlela who also ran a PB of 9.87 (+0.3) and ahead of defending World and Olympic Champion, Noah Lyles who ran 9.95 (-1.1) and finished overall fourth.
Read Also: Rallies Behind Team Nigeria as Amusan, Brume Lead Squad to 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo
For the semi-final, Ajayi will run from lane 7 in Heat 1 alongside two Olympic 100 metre champions, Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs and United States’ Noah Lyles.
Okon will also run from lane 7 in Heat 3 that includes 200m Olympic champion, Letsile Tebogo, Canada’s Andre De Grasse and Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, who will hope to improve on how he started in the first round.
Other African representatives, Ferdinand Omanyala (Kenya), South Africa’s Akani Simbine and Ghana’s Abdul-Rasheed Saminu also made it to the semi final.
The first 2 of each heat (Q) plus 2 fastest times (q) will qualify to the final
