April 16, (THEWILL) – At the Tom Jones Memorial Classic 2022, 19-year-old Favour Ofili, a Nigerian athlete, broke Blessing Okagbare’s 200-meter national record.
Okagbare had previously owned the National Record with a time of 22.04 seconds, which she has held since 2018. Ofili raced a world-record-breaking 21.96 seconds to become the first college athlete to break the 22-second barrier.
She became the first Nigerian girl to break 22 seconds in the women’s 200m with the mark. She has set a new NCAA and National Record. Her time is also the best in the world this year, the best in the NCAA history, and a new School Record.
Ofili won the women’s 200m at the Tom Jones Invitational in Florida on Friday, clocking a world-leading time of 21.96 seconds (1.3), ahead of Kamaya Debose-Epps in 22.81 seconds and Jonah Ross in 22.91 seconds.
The teenager is a track and field athlete from Nigeria, who specialises in the 200 and 400 metre sprints. She won silver in the 400 metres at the 2019 African Games.
In addition, she is the African Youth Champion in the 200 and 400 metres for 2019.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
