Kanyinsola Ajayi. Photo: Athletic Heat
Former African sprint king Olusoji Fasuba has thrown his weight behind Kanyinsola Ajayi to chase the African 100m record after the youngster ended his 20-year hold on the Nigerian record with a world-leading 9.84 seconds at the NCAA East Regional Championships on Friday.
Ajayi, the 20-year-old Auburn University sprinter, clocked the time with a legal wind reading of +0.4m/s to win his heat and qualify for the NCAA Championships, surpassing Fasuba’s mark of 9.85 seconds set in Doha in May 2006.
The run also moved Ajayi to the top of the 2026 world rankings and placed him ahead of a distinguished list of Nigerian sprint greats, including Divine Oduduru, Seun Ogunkoya and Davidson Ezinwa.
Rather than lament the loss of a record he had held for two decades — one that also stood as the African record for 15 years before Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala clocked 9.77 seconds in 2021 — Fasuba embraced the breakthrough warmly.
