Five Nigerian Sprinters to watch out for in 2017

3. Raymond Ekevwo

There’s a popular saying that “A champion isn’t made in a day, but is made by years of hard work, discipline and dedication”. So how about we coin ours: “The future of a possible Champion is known by the giant steps he’s taken in a breakout year”!

This is the tale of Raymond Ekevwo who has taken giant strides both at national and continental levels, to lay claim to his reputation as one of the country’s fastest rising home based sprinters.

Ekevwo first showed he was ready to rub shoulders with the big guns in Nigerian Athletics when he clocked a then Personal Best (PB) of 10.56s, at the AFN Golden League in Sapele. A week later at the D.K. Olukoya Youth and Junior Championships, he lowered this time to 10.53s to easily win his heat.

This certified his place as one of the medal contenders, and the teenager didn’t disappoint, racing to a new PB of 10.37s to be crowned Nigerian Junior Champion.

Leveraging on this performance a few weeks later, he went ahead to show his potential once again at the ECOWAS Region II Junior Championships, where he stormed to the 100m title in 10.77s, finishing ahead of his West African rivals.

Although he was billed to compete at the World Junior Championships in Poland, the sprint sensation couldn’t showcase his talent at the world stage due to the late arrival of the team, thus missing out on his heat in the 100m.

Nevertheless, the Delta State athlete bounced back at Making of Champions‘ (MoC) Top Sprinter competition in Lagos where he once again proved that his string of performances during the course of the year were no fluke, racing to the 100m title ahead of his senior counterparts in 10.79s.

With the number of age group competitions billed for 2017, it’s only a matter of time before the speedster demonstrates that he is not just a Nigerian Champion, but perhaps the African and if possible, future World Champion within his age bracket.