Ajayi, Ogazi Storm To NCAA Glory With Championship Wins

Nigerian sprinters Kayinsola Ajayi and Samuel Ogazi delivered outstanding performances to clinch the men’s 100m and 400m titles, respectively, at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships held in the early hours of Friday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States.

According to PUNCH Online, Ajayi, who represents Auburn University, powered to victory in the men’s 100m final in a wind-assisted 9.72 seconds. Although the time would have surpassed the African record of 9.77 seconds held by Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, a +2.2m/s tailwind rendered it ineligible for record recognition.

The 21-year-old’s triumph marks his first NCAA outdoor title after narrowly missing out last year with a fourth-place finish. With the win, he became the first Nigerian to claim the NCAA men’s 100m crown since Divine Oduduru achieved the feat in 2019.

Ajayi produced a commanding finish in the final, pulling away from the field in the closing stages. LSU’s Jaiden Reid came second in 9.82 seconds, while Arkansas’ Jelani Watkins finished third. Earlier in the competition, Ajayi had shown resilience in the semi-finals, winning his heat in 9.94 seconds despite a headwind, ahead of Reid who equalled a Cayman Islands national record with 9.95 seconds.

While the performance does not qualify as an official record, his 9.72-second run remains one of the fastest ever recorded under any conditions this season, further strengthening his reputation as one of the world’s standout sprinters.

In the men’s 400m, Samuel Ogazi successfully defended his NCAA title in emphatic style, setting a new national and collegiate record of 43.38 seconds. The University of Alabama athlete shattered the previous NCAA record of 43.61 seconds set by American Michael Norman in 2018.

The performance also propelled Ogazi to fourth place on the all-time world list, behind only South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk and Americans Michael Johnson and Butch Reynolds. The 20-year-old improved significantly on his personal best of 44.02 seconds, recorded in May during Alabama’s clash with Georgia in Athens, a time that had already broken Innocent Egbunike’s long-standing Nigerian record of 44.17 seconds set in 1987.

In another strong showing for Nigerian athletes, Ajayi’s Auburn teammate Israel Okon recovered from a setback in the 100m—where he failed to finish strongly and placed ninth—to secure second place in the 200m final, clocking 19.99 seconds, his best finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.