In a year characterized by fresh athletes bursting with talent and standout performances, the women’s sprints truly became the heartbeat of the country’s track revival. From blazing 100m times to commanding 400m finishes, 2025 delivered sprinters who refused to be overlooked. Let’s take a look at Nigeria’s Top 10 Female Sprinters in 2025.
10. Chioma Nwachukwu
After her eye-catching performance last season earned her a scholarship to Iowa, Chioma Nwachukwu has blossomed into one of Nigeria’s fastest-rising quartermilers. Before this year, she had never broken 53s. She ran a brilliant 52.08s to win Bronze at the Big Ten Championships, which was the major highlight of her indoor season.
Outdoors, she made an even bigger statement, running a massive Personal Best (PB) of 51.44s in her first race of the season to place 2nd at the Florida Relays. She improved again shortly after, clocking a stunning 51.26s at the Tom Jones Invitational.
Nwachukwu represented Team Nigeria at the African U18/U20 Championships in Abeokuta, where she claimed GOLD in the girls’ 400m and anchored the medley relay to another title, capping a truly outstanding season.
9. Favour Onyah
What a breakout year it was for Favour Onyah, who jumped from running 53s to 51s in the 400m. The Nigerian quartermiler, representing Southeastern Louisiana University, qualified for the NCAA Championships in her freshman year after clocking 51.93s and 51.94s at the NCAA East Regionals—just two weeks after her Silver-medal finish at the Southland Conference, where she ran 52.54s, her second-fastest time then.
Onyah placed 16th overall at the NCAA Championships in the women’s 400m. Five weeks later, she was selected for Nigeria’s team to the African U18/U20 Athletics Championships in Abeokuta, where she claimed the women’s 400m crown and played a pivotal role in both the mixed and women’s 4x400m relays. She left the meet as one of the most decorated athletes, winning three GOLD medals.
She ended her season in style, securing her first National title in the women’s 400m and then went on to win Bronze in the 400m and GOLD in the 4x400m relay at the CAA Region II meet in Ghana two weeks later.
8. Olayinka Olajide
Olayinka Olajide’s heroics last season earned her a scholarship to Texas Tech, where she began her NCAA journey. Though her indoor season was disrupted by injury, she still managed to deliver one of the highlights of her career—running a new PB of 11.15s while winning the Texas Tech Corky Shootout.
She narrowly missed qualification for the NCAA Championships, finishing 17th and 18th in the 200m and 100m respectively, at the Regionals. At the Nigerian Championships, she finished 2nd in the women’s 100m, matching her placement from last year.
Olajide won Silver in the 100m and GOLD in the 4x100m at the CAA Region II Championships in Ghana, and rounded off her season by getting married.
7. Chioma Cynthia Nweke
Chioma Cynthia Nweke opened her season at the MTN CHAMPS Benin meet, winning the junior women’s 100m in 11.84s. She followed that with a 2nd-place finish at the MTN CHAMPS Uyo Grand Final. Three weeks later, she stormed to victory in the women’s 200m at the National Sports Festival, representing Delta State.
At the African U18/U20 Championships in Abeokuta, Nweke stormed to GOLD in the 100m and 4x400m, and Silver in the 200m. Two weeks later, she claimed her first National 100m title in a wind-assisted 11.23s, the fastest time of her career under all conditions.
Nweke added more hardware at the CAA Region II meet in Ghana, winning GOLD in both the 100m and 4x100m. She closed her season with a 6th-place finish in the 100m and GOLD in the 4x100m relay at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh.
6. Adaobi Tabugbo
Adaobi Tabugbo delivered the best season of her career, breaking both the sub-8s barrier in the 60m hurdles and the sub-13s barrier in the 100m hurdles.
The UCF standout opened her year with a PB of 8.06s in just her second meet, then dropped a superb 7.99s at the Big 12 Indoor Championships to win Silver. That performance made her the 7th African woman to run under 8s and elevated her to 5th on Nigeria’s all-time list. She narrowly missed the 60m hurdles final at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing 9th.
Tabugbo carried that momentum outdoors. She opened her campaign with a wind-aided 12.93s, her fastest under all conditions, before producing a sensational, wind-legal 12.87s to win the Big 12 100m hurdles title. The performance shattered her previous PB of 13.10s and moved her to joint 6th on the Nigerian all-time list.
She qualified for the NCAA Championships after running 12.95s at the East Regionals and went on to finish 12th overall in the women’s 100m hurdles.
At the Nigerian Championships, Tabugbo claimed the runner-up spot in 13.03s, and wrapped up her season at the Grande Prêmio meet in Brazil, where she clocked a wind-aided 12.90s for the win.
