The National Athletics Trails have come and gone with the World Athletics Championship in sight. Nigerians’ hopes are high for the fact that a lot of our athletes are really hitting hard on the tracks, producing results and breaking records this season. Talking about records, eyes will be on one man who has kept everyone thinking and hopeful to replicate his latest result in the World Athletics Championship. Recently, Ezekiel Nathaniel made the athletic world go back memory lane as he broke a long standing 35year old record in a new personal best.
One time Nigeria’s 400m hurdles champion, Henry Amike had set a record of 48.50s on the 31st of August 1987, in the World Athletics Championships held in Italy. Ever since then, nobody has been able to break the record until Ezekiel Nathaniel ran a new national best of 48.42s in the United States, qualifying him for this year’s World Athletics campaign.
After the record breaking performance, the lad claimed he never even knew how long that record lasted. “For real, I didn’t know how long the record stood. It was after running that it dawned on me how long the record had been standing.”
The 19year old will be representing Nigeria for the first time in the 18th edition of the Senior world Championship in the 400m hurdles event holding in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The World Athletics Championship is held every two years, representing the highest level of outdoor athletics for track and field globally.
