by Deji OgeyingboFavour Ofili blasted a 21.96 furlong at the Tom Jones Invitational this past weekend. Deji Ogeyingbo is fascinated with her performance and what it means for African athletics! The LSU star is sure waking people up with her fine sprinting!
Thanks to Deji Ogeyingbo for his exciting writing!
Favour Ofili, photo courtesy of LSU Track & Field
Favour Ofili’s dazzling 21.96s World lead in Florida might just have ignited African athletics’ next great rivalry
On Friday evening in Florida, Nigeria’s Favour Ofili displayed some incredible piece of sprinting prowess that defied her age, logic and most importantly status. Competing at the Tom Jones Memorial for Louisiana State University (LSU), the spindly athlete stormed to a new World Lead of 21.96 to win the women’s 200m, thereby becoming the World Leader in the event.
‘Star girl’ as she’s fondly called by her teammates and friends has always been a precocious talent right from when she was blazing the track in Nigeria before going to school in the US. However, her relentless pursuit for success has taken her to unimaginable heights, with the James G. Pressly Stadium her latest stomping ground.
“My body felt great going into the race,” Ofili said after her record-setting performance. “Coach {Dennis} Shaver told me before the race to just ‘Stay relaxed and execute the race plan’, and that’s what I did.
“I can’t really recall too much of the race because it was such a blur, but I knew I was the first to cross the finish line by a wide margin. When I saw the time, I was very happy and excited because it was an expectation that came to pass on God’s word proclaimed in my life. I give all the credit and glory to God.”
Favour gives a lot of credit to her coach after he transformed her from a 400m specialist to now one of the best athletes over the 200m. Her time over the last year is a testament to that. And her latest exploits in Florida prove that she’s got a bright future over the half-lap event.
The future surely is now. Friday’s performance has just emphasized most athletics buffs’ prediction in women’s sprinting in Africa. The athlete whom Ofili snagged the World lead from is Namibia’s Christine Mboma, who clocked 22.12 in Alabama a few weeks back.
Mboma stormed the world at the Tokyo Olympics to win Silver in the women’s 200m by running a World U20 Record of 21.81. The Namibian lowered that time to 21.78s a couple of weeks later as she clinched the women’s 200m Diamond League trophy in Zurich.
Before that her performance in Zurich, we had witnessed the first of, what could potentially be many to come, a duel between Ofili and Mboma. The stars aligned and both sprinters locked horns at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi in August 2021.
And although Ofili seemed to be the most established athlete having scooped Gold in the Youth category of the 200m and 400m at the 2019 African U18 and U20 Championships, while also winning Gold at the 2019 African Youth Games in Algiers the year before, it was Mboma who had the better form and profile ahead of their match up.
Both sprinters cantered through their heats and semis before going face to face in the final of the 200m at the Kasarani Stadium. A thriller and a nail-biting affair were expected. The opening half of the race delivered a frantic affair as Ofili had the slight edge at the curve. But like we’ve come to realize in recent times, there are very few athletes that can boast of the sort of top-end speed like Mboma.
And as expected, the Namibian blew away Ofili on the home stretch clocking 21.84 for the win ahead of Ofili who took third in 22.23. Eight months later, the margin between both athletes cannot be closer, sparking a duel that might last for the next decade. It’s what the sport craves, most especially African sprinting.
The continent has seen its fair share of duels in the women’s sprint for a period now. Blessing Okagbare, Marie Jose Ta Lou and Murielle Ahoure hold the three fastest 100m times, performances that stemmed from all three pushing one another to the limit at various championships, especially on African Soil.
It made for a thrill, as they not only made it to major Championship finals, all three were African Champions over the 100m or 200m at some point in their career. Now, at some point, the old has to make way for the new. It’s seen in many climes as the changing of the guard. And the Mboma vs Ofili rivalry has just been born.
For a while now, Ofili has been seen as the next track superstar for Nigeria, as she had been touted to take over from Okagbare. The way she swaggered imperiously to the win in her latest showing in Florida while breaking Okagbare’s National Record of 22.04 was just a delight to watch.
More recently, Akani Simbine’s dominance of the men’s 100m on the continent has been challenged by Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala. Their latest battle in Germiston tilted on a knife-edge recently. It is on such premise athletics buff hope Mboma and Ofili deliver, with both potentially clashing over the 100m and 200m at the African Championships in Mauritius in June.
Whatever happens from here will be quick, every race from both athletes carries its own connotation. This is just something to be savoured, a rare moment in the African athletics scenery.
Check out Deji’s last piece on Favour Ofili: https://www.runblogrun.com/2021/12/relentless-favour-ofili-offers-hope-for-nigeria.html
