Sade Olatoye has set a new national record in Hammer throw while competing at the Jesse Owens Classic in USA.
Sade Olatoye achieved the feat on May 1, 2021 with a 69.89 meters throw to not only win the women’s Hammer Throw, but also take down Temilola Ogunrinde’s previous marker of 68.85 meters from 2019. Sade Olatoye’s throw effectively doubled and tripled as a Stadium and Meet Record, while she finished ahead of Gianna Rao (60.24 meters) and Angel Nkwonta (59.46 meters).
Divine Oduduru made known his intentions for the 2021 season as he swept to a blazing 19.88 seconds to win the men’s 200 meters at the UNF Invitational in Florida, defeating Cravont Charleston who ran a Personal Best (PB) of 20.16 seconds and followed closely by FSU’s Jo’Vaughn Martin who has run a huge 9.94 seconds over 100 meters this season, recording a time of 20.22 seconds (PB) to take 3rd in this race.
Oduduru’s time is the second fastest in the world this year, just six-hundredths behind the World Lead (WL) held by Terrance Laird. He would later return to take 3rd in the men’s 100 meters, running a Season’s Best (SB) behind his training partners, Trayvon Bromell in a WL of 9.88 seconds and Andre de Grasse in an identical 10.05 seconds.
In like manner, Blessing Okagbare was well in a league of her own as she flew down the track at the same meet to a 22.03 seconds clocking in the women’s 200 meters, a time that would have erased her own African Record (AR) and equalled Shaunae Miller-Uibo’s WL but didn’t, due to the marginally excessive wind reading of 2.5m/s.
Also running in Florida, but this time at the Pure Athletics Sprint Elite Meet, Tobi Amusan stormed to an equal PB of 12.48 seconds, moving to 2nd on the global toplist, alongside World Record (WR) holder Kendra Harrison, to win the women’s 100mH. After an interim 12.55 seconds in qualification, she was totally unflustered as 2nd-placed Cassandra Lloyd ran 13.56 seconds, while 3rd went to Deya Erickson in 13.69 seconds.
Meanwhile, Fabian Edoki signalled his return back to the 8 metres club, when he reached an SB of 8.01 meters at the UNF Invitational with no wind at all, finishing 2nd behind his teammate Isaac Grimes who leapt 8.07 meters for the win and thus making him the 2nd Nigerian athlete to surpass 8 metres in 2021. The only other athlete to have surpassed 8 metres, Meyiwa Ineh who got out to 8.07 meters earlier this season also reached exactly 8.00 meters (0.1) at the SSAC Championships for a thorough win in the event.
Rosemary Chukwuma narrowly missed out on a PB when she stormed to the 100 meters win at the Corky/Crofoot Shoot-out in Texas with a time of 11.18 seconds, aided by a 2.1m/s wind. She finished ahead of Ayla Stanislaus (11.27 seconds) and Peyton Ricks (11.47 seconds) and would be hoping to build on that momentum, going forward. Her teammate Success Umukoro also ran a PB in a different heat however, turning in 11.73 seconds (0.2).
Competing on her school track for a third time this outdoor season was Ruth Usoro in the women’s Triple Jump, an event she dominated with a leap of 13.85 meters and inspired a 1-2-3 finish for her school, with Monae’ Nichols taking 2nd with 13.25 meters as Chinne Okoronkwo placed 3rd with 13.09 meters.
Anita Taviore ran two PBs in one day at the West Coast Relays. The Nigerian who competes for Boise State University, won the women’s 100 meters at the event in a time of 11.51 seconds and went on to further take 2nd in the 200 meters in a time of 23.25 seconds (1.5) in a race won by Tianna Holmes in 23.22 seconds.
David Olowookere ran his fifth straight 400mH race undefeated in the US for his school, Drake University, but this time, with an icing on the cake as he clocked a time of 50.95 seconds for the win at the Illinois State Invitational, breaking his PB of 51.07 seconds from 2018.
At the Tennessee Challenge, Erhire Best cleared 2.17 meters to win the men’s High Jump, while his teammate Esther Isa who was coming off a PB from last weekend, remained undefeated in the women’s equivalent, easily topping 1.80 meters.
