Recently updated on May 21st, 2022 at 10:57 am
Ashe Favour has run the fastest time in history by any Nigerian athlete in all conditions, racing to a staggering 9.79s (+3.0) to win his 100 meters heat at the LSU invitational meet in Baton Rouge on April 30, 2022.
That time, is the fifth fastest time all conditions in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history.
Before travelling to Louisiana to compete, Favour Ashe had run one outdoor 100 meters race this season, narrowly losing to his compatriot Alaba Akintola who won their match-up in Auburn, posting a Personal Best of 10.09 seconds. Ashe came in 2nd in that race, equally running a Personal Best (PB) of 10.10 seconds.
Earlier this year at the indoor circuits, he ran a fast 60 meters PB of 6.58 seconds. That was his first ever competitive race indoors, moving to 12th in the Nigerian all-time list, only to massively improve at the Indoor National Championships in Birmingham with a new PB of 6.51s and going joint 4th with Davidson Ezinwa in the Nigerian all-time list. He would go on to finish on the podium, winning Bronze for his school in his first American championships.
According to Ashe Favour:
“I will say that throughout the season so far, I haven’t really even run my best race yet: either it is a bad weather or a bad start from the blocks, but I am quite happy that I competed at the LSU invitational. I knew it was going to be a good meet, my coach told me to go and execute and that I will be fine, which was exactly what I did.”
Returning for his third 100 meters race this year on April 30th, Ashe stormed to an impressive 9.79 seconds, bolting past the rest of the field in a commanding fashion to impressively win his heat. Ashe’s gap between other opponents was such that Da’Marcus Fleming who finished 2nd, clocked 10.02 seconds while Micaiah Harris was 3rd in 10.10 seconds.
While the wind might not be legal, if this 9.79 seconds is translated into what it portends for a legal time, it could be a high 9.8 seconds or a low 9.9 seconds, meaning that he is surely in the sub 10s range, and it’s still the first week of May.
“When I saw the time (9.79s), I was so happy, but when I heard the wind was +3, I was a little a bit sad. I am still cool with it though, because I know I’m in a good shape, and running that time wind-aided would have also been a very fast time in a legal wind. So I am happy with it.”
With this time, Ashe is ranked at number 1 for Nigeria in all conditions, just above Olusoji Fasuba’s Nigerian record of 9.85 seconds (+1.7). Divine Oduduru with 9.86 seconds (+0.8) is an outright 3rd, while Chidi Imoh (+4.4), Olapade Adeniken (+2.8) & Seun Ogunkoya (-0.2) with 9.92 seconds are joint 4th in the Nigerian list.
