TheCable

Enoch Adegoke has become the first Nigerian to qualify for the final of the 100 meters at the Olympics in 25 years.

The 23-year-old dipped 10.00 seconds to finish second in heat 2 of the men’s 100 meters semi-final at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.

Nigeria has not been represented in the men’s sprint final at the games since Davidson Ezinwa achieved the feat in Atlanta ’96.

Adegoke was only surpassed by Great Britain’s Hughes Zharnel who finished first with 9.98 seconds.

The swift race went to a nervy end after Adegoke and Bromell Tayvon finished tied on 10 seconds each.

It took a couple of minutes of reexamination of the footage from the finish line before the Nigerian was adjudged to have beaten the American to a place in the 100 meters final by whiskers.

The final, which is billed for 2 pm on Sunday, is a lineup of blistering men, led by China’s Su Bingtain, who raced to an area record of 9.83 seconds in the third heat.

The list also includes Akani Simbine of South Africa, the continent’s fastest man; Baker Ronnie of the US and Italy’s Jacob Lamott.

On his part, Usheoritse Itsekiri could only make seventh in the first heat after clocking a disappointing 10.29 seconds.

The 23-year-old appeared to have battled a bit of hamstring cramp in the final meters of the race.

Tobi Amusan also made it into the finals of the women’s 100m hurdles with joint 4th best time among the last 12.