On this day 33 years ago, Innocent Egbunike set the National Record (NR) in the men’s 400m, running a time of 44.17s to win the event at the Zürich Weltklasse in Switzerland.
In what was his finest season, he stormed to a World Championships Silver medal in Rome, running 44.56s behind Germany’s Thomas Schonlebe (44.33s, NR), as Butch Reynolds (44.80s) settled for Bronze.
He also won the GOLD medal at the All-African Games in Kenya in a time of 44.23s, which still stands as the Championship Record.
In 1987 alone, he dipped under 45 seconds 12 times, while his Personal Record still remains the fastest ever done by a Nigerian till date.
