Nigeria’s Favour Ofili opened her season with a 10.99 (+0.4 m/s) win in the women’s 100m at the 2025 LSU Alumni Gold event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Saturday.
The 22-year-old sprinter signaled her readiness to become the first Nigerian to claim the US$100,000 grand prize in the next Grand Slam Track meeting in Miami on May 2-4.
Ofili, who was a finalist in the 200m at the Paris 2024 Olympics, clocked an impressive 22.34 in the half-lap event at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Florida a week ago to kick off her 2025 season.
This performance places her second on the 2025 World 100m leaderboard, just behind Anavia Battle from the USA, who recorded a 10.98 victory also at the Tom Jones Memorial in Florida last week.
Her compatriots, Rosemary Chukwuma finished sixth overall with an 11.27 run against a -1.7 m/s wind, while Praise Ofoku ranks 30th after running 11.96 with a 2.3 m/s tailwind.
In the women’s 200m, Tima Godbless emerged victorious, running 22.72 seconds into a -1.9 m/s headwind.
Elsewhere in the USA over the weekend, Samuel Ogazi achieved a sensational 44.98 finish to claim victory at the Tigers Classic at Auburn University, Alabama.
Ogazi’s time set a new stadium record for the Hutsell-Rosen Track facility and ranks as the fourth-fastest in the USA this year. Last year, the 18-year-old became the first Nigerian to reach the final of this event at the Olympics since Innocent Egbunike in 1988.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel Nathaniel, who ran 44.74 indoors last month, has broken the 45-second barrier outdoors. The Nigerian 400m indoor and 400m hurdles record holder clocked 44.75 in his outdoor season debut. He has now joined Baylor University’s historic Quarter-Mile U top-10 programme marks, tying for ninth place.
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Motunde is the associate editor and social media manager at Athletics Africa. A track junkie and digital editor with an eye for little details.
