Divine Oduduru became the first Nigerian to run as fast as 20.25s in the 200 metres for TWELVE YEARS, as he raced to a silver medal behind USA’s Tentravis Friday (20.04s) at the ongoing World Junior Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA for U-20 athletes. Oduduru’s official Personal Best remains as 20.66s, which he ran in the semi-final the day before, because his 20.25s was run with a tailwind of 2.3m/s, which makes it ineligible for record purposes as it is over the legal limit of 2.0m/s. Nevertheless, it is an incredible performance whose won the Nigerian Trials in 20.87s, and has a lifetime best of 10.30s in the 100 metres. His progression over the last year has been nothing short of meteoric, given that a year ago he was running 21.13s set at the World Youth Championships in Ukraine!
The significance of Divine’s run cannot be overstated – he beat much more heavily favoured athletes such as Jamaica’s Michael O’Hara (who beat him in the heats and semi-finals) into 3rd place and Anguilla’s Zharnel Hughes (who trains with Usain Bolt’s coach) into 5th place, and in so doing matched the FIFTH fastest men on Nigeria’s all-time list in the 200 metres! That will not be an official statistic given that it was wind-assisted, but his potential to run such a time NOW should fill Nigerians with excitement that perhaps we have an athlete here whom, with the right guidance and training, could become a serious Olympic medal contender in 2 year’s time! This result is certainly a breath of fresh air in what has so far been a bitterly disappointing championships for Nigeria. Even at the last edition in Barcelona 2 years ago, Team Naija came home with no medals, so this is a result definitely worth celebrating!
There had been some talk about why Divine was not also entered into the 100 metres at these championships, and his coaching crew must be commended for picking their battles wisely – the 100m Champion from these games, USA’s Kendal Williams failed to make it to the 200m final, likely due to exhaustion, a serious factor to consider at the U-20 level. The big question now is, does Nigeria have any plans to ship him straight over to Glasgow to compete in the Commonwealth Games in the coming week? He was listed on the Commonwealth Games team following the Nigerian trials, but it remains to be seen if his participation in the 200m in Glasgow has been properly planned for. Commowealth 200m starts this Wednesday (July 30th) – watch this space!
Photo finish of Divine Oduduru’s 2nd place finish in the 200m at the 2014 World Juniors, in a wind-assisted time of 20.25 seconds!
[…] emergence of Divine Oduduru with a World Junior Silver in the 200 metres in a stunning wind-assisted time of 20.25s also further calls into question the necessity (or indeed the wisdom) of recruiting older […]
[…] was a different story this year however, going by the scorching (thought wind-assisted) 20.25s he clocked recently at the IAAF World Junior (U-20) Cha…, which was good enough for a Silver medal, and incidentally turned out to be Nigeria’s only […]
In times past, countries from the southern part of the African continent were not regarded as good producers of the world’s best runners, but recently, Botswana, which was once considered a minnow in Africa and the world athletics stage, is proving that innate talent can be found in any part of the world irrespective of […]
The breakthrough performances of many South African athletes in 2014 has confirmed the country’s status as the reigning powerhouse of athletics on the continent. There is no denying that South Africa’s dominance in African athletics, took a sharp nosedive since their triumph at the 2008 African Championships in Addis Ababa, which completed a hat-trick of […]
In the sporting world, Cote d’ Ivoire is well known as a power house in African football , and globally for the production of stars such as Didier Drogba, the Toure brothers (Kolo and Yaya), and a host of other big names. About a decade ago, suggesting that the West African country would produce a […]
On Tuesday we started the countdown of our TOP 12 athletics performers whom we think stood out exceptionally well for the Green-White-Green of Nigeria, listing Nos. 12-7. We now conclude the series with Nos. 6-1! 6. FOLASHADE ABUGAN: The 2014 season couldn’t have gone much better for Abugan, given that teammate Regina George started the […]
Team Nigeria athletes put up a commendable outing during the 2014 Athletics season. Some athletes stood out based on their individual performances, personal records and medals won in their various events. Here’s a countdown of the TOP 12 athletics performers whom we think stood out exceptionally well for the Green-White-Green of Nigeria: 12. CHINWE OKORO: […]
Making of Champions 
2 Responses to “Oduduru wins 200m World Junior Silver with wind-assisted 20.25s, equalling 5th fastest Nigerians all-time!”