Kayinsola Ajayi. Credit: NCAA
Nigerian athletes Kayinsola Ajayi and Samuel Ogazi claimed the men’s 100m and 400m titles, respectively, at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the early hours of Friday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, PUNCH Online reports.
Representing Auburn University, Ajayi stormed to victory in the men’s 100m in a wind-assisted 9.72 seconds.
The performance would have broken the African record of 9.77 seconds currently held by Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, but a tailwind of +2.2m/s rendered the mark ineligible for record purposes.
It was the 21-year-old’s first NCAA outdoor title after finishing fourth in the event last year. With the victory, he became the first Nigerian to win the NCAA men’s 100m title since Divine Oduduru achieved the feat in 2019.
