Kanyinsola Ajayi stars with brilliant personal best to make men's 100m semis at Tokyo 2025 World Championships
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Nigeria's Kanyinsola Ajayi produced an impressive outing on his debut, clocking a new Personal Best (PB) to make the men's 100m semifinals at the ongoing Tokyo 2025 World Championships.
The 20-year-old youngster running against more experienced sprinters held his own in Heat 1 to impressively finish second in a new PB of 9.88s, behind South Africa's Gift Leotlela, who also clocked a PB of 9.87s. Surprisingly, Jamaica's star sprinter Oblique Seville did enough to finish third and get the last automatic qualifying spot in 9.93s.
Tokyo 2025: Ajayi Storms to 9.88s PB in Men’s 100m Heats!
— New revolution Athletes (@NRtf_Ngr) September 13, 2025
Kanyinsola Ajayi lit up the track in Tokyo, clocking a sensational 9.88s (0.3) to smash his personal best in the men’s 100m heats! 🇳🇬🔥
He finished 2nd in a stacked race behind Gift Leotlela (9.87s), with Oblique Seville… pic.twitter.com/ddvUFY0f98
Ajayi's performance is highly commendable as it propels him to third on the Nigerian all-time list behind Olusoji Fasuba's national record of 9.85s and Divine Oduduru's 9.86s.
He's scheduled to compete in the semifinals on Day 2 of the championships (September 14), in which, if he's able to produce the same measure or a better performance, will see him in the final, and make him Nigeria's first world championships men's 100m finalist since Fasuba achieved the feat in 2005.